Transformation:Quarantine
by JonseyCat79
Summary: Cindy, a Pokemon trainer who has just arrived to Hoenn during the outbreak of the original virus, is struggling to understand what is going on. Why were her pokemon confiscated from her? What are these so-called “quarantine procedures?" TF spin-off.
1. Prelude to darkness

Transformation: QUARANTINE

**Transformation: QUARANTINE**

By JonseyCat79

**Chapter one: prelude to darkness**

**Hello, and welcome to Quarantine, my first pokemon TF fic! I would like to thank TurtlesandMonkeys for letting me write this spin-off of her series, and I would like to ask people to read her stories as well. It might probably be a good idea to do that to gain a better understanding of the backdrop for this story. But if you don't, that's ok too.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokemon universe, Nintendo does. I also do not own the "**_**Transformation**_**" Universe that was set up by TurtlesandMonkeys; that belongs to her and I'm just borrowing the universe. Now formalities aside, let's get rolling!**

**Author's note: This continuality takes place before and during the events of **_**Ancient Society**_**, sometime after the conference but before the Mauville city incident. JC79.**

Sunset was beginning to grip the horizon. The sky took on a golden yellow tint with the clouds taking on tinges of purple and pink. The road that was beneath this grand curtain of nature was lonely, save for one traveler. A traveler who's weariness was temporarily lessened when she came across a sign that read _Rustboro City 1 mile._

_Good, that means that they will have a Pokemon Center, a phone, and probably a bed…_

These thoughts raced through the mind of Cindy Richards, a pokemon trainer who is looking for a rest on her journey to become a pokemon master. _Yeah…the whole world and me…_ she thought. The 16-year old trainer continued on through the road. She had short blond hair, wore a Navy blue vest with flame designs near the arms over a creamy yellow colored T-shirt. Her denim shorts had the same flame designs near the end. Her hands clad in fingerless gloves gripped the straps of her olive green backpack as she began to pick up the pace. It would be nice to make it to the city before the sun went completely down, but for that she would really have to boogie and run like a Buneary to make it.

_Oh well… good thing the Pokemon centers are open late._

Tired of the silence and loneliness of the road, Cindy reached for her Poke belt and pulled out a Pokeball.

"All right Quilava, come on out!"

The red and white ball split and a burst of light appeared along with the classic sound of a Pokeball empting its contents. The beam of light began to take form. Whenthe light cleared, Quilava yawned and stretched before it opened its eyes to look back at its trainer with a smile.

"Quilava!" the little lava pokemon cried out in joy. The blue and cream-colored pokemon got on all four little paws and walked with its trainer.

Cindy looked down and smiled at her little companion. Quilava and her have been together since the beginning of her journey in New Bark Town, Johto. Back then it was only a little Cyndaquil, and Cindy was only twelve. Starting her journey late, she still had no idea what kind of pokemon she would receive from Professor Elm. He even had to let them out of their Pokeballs to show them to her. When all the pokemon were laid out before her, Cindy made an instant connection with the shy little Cyndaquil. She thought it was adorable yet held some hidden potential beneath its seemingly perpetually closed eyes. ­ She chose the little pokemon as her companion on her journey. During her first two years as a trainer, Cindy and Cyndaquil had numerous journeys, many encounters with pokemon, and many moments of friendship. They explored Johto and its neighbor, Kanto, with allies that they have caught during the years. Being her first, Cyndaquil was her favorite pokemon to use, and the two bonded. She took a break for a while and settled in New Bark with her pokemon before setting off again to take the Hoenn challenge about a year later. Now fifteen, Cindy and Cyndaquil met with the local wildlife of pokemon and only caught a few. Cindy was the type of trainer who didn't capture every single pokemon encountered, only the ones that she felt a connection to. It was hard to tell when that would happen, but there was an intuition within her that told her if this pokemon was for her, like the one that picked Cyndaquil over the hyper but noble Totodile and the spunky yet sweet Chikorita. It was in Hoenn that Cyndaquil had gained enough experience and evolved into Quilava. Although its body has changed, it was still the same little Cyndaquil Cindy met in New Bark. It evolving was a sign of how much the two have grown together and for that she was proud. The two ventured fourth into the Sinnoh region where she spent year training. After that she began the long journey home to New Bark and that meant a return trip through Hoenn. Last night she got off the ferry and began trekking by foot, which led to where she was now.

"We've been through so much together, haven't we?" Cindy said to her companion.

"Quill." It replied.

"Well, if we continue on, we can get some rest at the center."

The little pokemon nodded and continued forward. Cindy then just noticed how quite it was out here. _That's kind of weird. _She thought. _Not a sound from the pokemon in these woods…_

Come to think of it, she hasn't seen anyone or anything since her departure from the ferry.

"The sun's going down, we better move faster."

"Quill."

The loneliness coupled with the twilight sky gave Cindy an unnerving feeling, as if it was a sign or something.

_Why do I have the feeling that things are not what they seem?_

Shaking off her thoughts, Cindy continued down the path with Quilava.

**AN: Well that's the first chapter. I hope you get an understanding of the character. This is only the Beginning! JONSEYCAT, out! Chika! Chicori! **


	2. Memories and Chaos

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter two: Memories and Chaos**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Nintendo does. I also do not own the Transformation universe set up by TurtlesandMonkeys; I'm only borrowing it with her permission.**

Cindy continued down the path to Rustboro City. Quilava followed behind, the two were equally exhausted.

_Man, should have brought my bike… _ Thought Cindy to herself. Her thoughts lightened when the following sign greeted her: 

_Welcome to Rustboro City: "The city probing the integration of nature and science."_

"Remember, Quilava? This is where we became stronger." She said to her tired companion, who managed a smile. _ Has it been a year already?_

During her journey in Hoenn, she remembered when she first arrived to the city that is home to a community of pokemon trainers _and _scientist. The city itself was breathtaking with its city lights and paved roads. The scientific facilities ranged from a single story to three stories. The largest building was the Devon Corporation facility. The Pokemon training school was there as well, were students go to learn all they can about pokemon. _ Almost every region has one, _thought Cindy. Roxanne, the Rustboro gym leader, was also a top scholar of the town, no wonder they chose such a person to represent their city in the league. Her rock-type pokemon gave her then Cyndaquil a problem since they had the type advantage. It was during the final turning point that the little Cyndaquil gained enough experience to evolve and become stronger. That and the assistance of her other pokemon, helped win the day.

"Come on, let's go to the center and take a good rest."

"Lava!" It chirped in agreement.

Rustboro city was around the bend. Cindy and Quilava picked up the pace to get there. The street lamps illuminated the way, showing that they have reached the city entrance. Nobody was out. Cindy thought that strange.

_Well, I did come in pretty late, but still… There should be at least a late night trainer or an officer patrolling the place._

The streets were barren. The only lights were at the Pokemon center and a few office buildings, which assured Cindy that the city wasn't deserted. What unnerved Cindy was that some buildings had floor boards hastily nailed over their doors. She walked by the mart and looked through the window. The place looked like a shopping sale of chaos occurred, with supplies and potions totally cleared out.

_Like they were hoarding or preparing for something…_

With uncertainty and a little fear creeping in, Cindy continued for the Pokemon center, Quilava following too with a level of uncertainty settling in. Like other pokemon, when something bothered Cindy, Quilava can sense it.

While walking, Cindy thought she heard a noise and could swear she saw what looked like a young kid peeking out through the boarded doors. The kid was then brought away from the door by a hand Cindy thought could be his mother or sister, like if she was something to fear. _ Or…_ Cindy thought …_Quilava…was dangerous…_

"Quilava, I'm think it would be best if you got back inside your ball."

Cindy pulled out the ball and was about to recall Quilava when an instant flash of light blinded her for a sec. She recoiled and put her arms to her face. She heard the sounds of heavy boots thudding across the paved road and distinctly felt someone grab a hold of her.

"Please remain calm." A muffled assertive voice told her. She felt her hand against what felt like a nylon suit, like one of those biohazard suits that were in sci-fi movies. Her sight returned to her, and after blinking the spots away, she saw her assertion was correct. She saw a brown haired man from behind a plastic visor on a decontamination suit.

"Lava!" Cindy suddenly heard the frantic cries of her friend. She turned and saw more men in suits grab a hold of it. The little fire shrew struggled against them.

One of the men had a shaded visor with a red circular patch on his left shoulder. He looked at Cindy and gestured to her. "The belt. Grab it."

The man holding her nodded and began to take her belt with her Pokeballs attached."

"Hey! What is the meaning of this? What's going on?" Cindy cried out in confusion and anger and began to struggle against the man's grip. Another man took the belt from the one holding her and gave it the one with the red patch.

"Put the Quilava in a fire-proof container for inspection and further research." Said the red-patched man. His voice was cool and calm.

"Yes sir." One suit grabbed the struggling Quilava and put it in a plastic container with air holes. The one holding Cindy began inspecting her, as if he was searching for something.

"No sign of any bites or injuries, sir. Looks like she's an outsider." He said.

"Check her Pokedex."

Another man came and grabbed her Pokedex and opened it.

The electronic voice began to read.

_Trainer ID: 65423, Cynthia "Cindy" Richards. _

_Current Age: Sixteen. Hometown: New Bark town. Region: Johto._

"Just as I thought. Marlow, take her in." Said the red-patch man.

"Yes sir." Said the man holding her.

"What?! What's going on? What did I do? What are you going to do to Quilava?!"

The man, Marlow, put Cindy over his shoulder and began walking toward what appeared to be a makeshift camp in the center of town with huge headlights illuminating the area. Cindy was struggling against his grip, but soon gave up when her thoughts drifted to Quilava.

_What is going on? Who are these guys? What is going to happen to Quilava?_

No one was there to answer her questions.

**An: Well, the wheels have been set in motion and this story is starting to pick up speed. Sorry if the structure was reminiscent of Chap 6 from **_**A.S: TF II, **_**wasn't aiming for that. Think of it as an homage, if you will. Well what's going to happen to Cindy and her pokemon? Stick around to find out! MEE-YAA!**


	3. An old friend

Transformation: Quarantine

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 3- An old friend**

**A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. (and when I say you all, I mean Swack 16 and Lord Nalthren) Speaking of, Swack 16 made the most interesting proposition and I just couldn't resist…. Read along to find out! MEE-YAA!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon and I'm only borrowing the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys. By the way, read those stories as well, they're great. DOUBLE THE TROUBLE FOREVER, MEE-YAA!**

Cindy was brought into a tent and sat in a chair. Marlow, the man who brought her in, still held her arms and held the struggling teen against her will.

"Please remain calm." Marlow said. At that point, Cindy lost all her patience and control and exploded at him.

"HOW CAN I REMAIN CALM WHEN YOU GRAB ME AND TAKE MY POKEMON AWAY?!" Cindy screamed at him. "WHO ARE YOU GUYS, WHAT'S GOING ON, AND WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO MY POKEMON?"

"Please lower your voice. All will be explained." Marlow's eyes had a reassuring quality to them and his tone was firm but soft, like a father comforting a child after a bad dream. Cindy stopped struggling but her face still had a frown.

"Who exactly are you guys?" Cindy asked.

"We are the Viral Pokemon Containment Unit, V.P.C.U for short. We are a subdivision of the Hoenn Defense Corps established after the Kyogre/Groudon incident at Sootopolis. The H.D.C has several bases among the region, though I'm not allowed to disclose such information unless it's absolutely necessary. A new virus was just discovered in pokemon and we locate any carriers of the virus and keep them contained and quarantined away from the public. The virus makes pokemon aggressive and willing to attack humans."

"Is that why you took Quilava? You think that she's infected?"

"Although the virus was just announced, several traveling trainers or people away from telecommunications still haven't received the message. This virus can also transmit itself to humans, and these people are at high risk for spreading it beyond the Hoenn region. As a precaution, we're inspecting any and all trainers in the area. We panicked a bit when we saw your Quilava. That's why we were a bit rough with your apprehension."

"A bit?" Cindy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The method of transmission is usually through bites. That's why we inspected you for any bites or injuries. Your pokemon are also being checked for any sign of the virus."

"What's going to happen to Quilava if she's infected?" Cindy asked suddenly.

"The Pokemon is usually placed away for public safety since a way to cure the virus from a pokemon has not been discovered as of yet." Marlow said plainly.

Cindy's eyes widened and she desperately hoped her best friend was not infected by this virus, whatever it is.

"One more thing, what does this virus do exactly?"

Marlow looked to the side a bit before looking at her again.

"Well, we're still collating information but from what we do know is-"

"HEY?! WHAT"S GOING ON HERE?"

Cindy heard a boy's voice from outside the tent.

"Oh crap, we've got another one." Marlow muttered. He got up and turned to Cindy. "Stay here, please." He got out the tent and yelled out. "Hold him!"

"GET YOU DAMN HANDS OFF ME AND GIVE ME BACK MY--"

Cindy heard a thump and the voice grunted in pain. There was something familiar about that voice…

She heard another thud and heard one of the guys in suits grunt.

"Watch it! He knows how to fight! Grab his arms and check his identification, now!" That voice belonged to the red-patch man.

"_Trainer ID: 39453, John Kai Ping. Age: 16. Region: Sinnoh."_

The name clicked in Cindy's mind. _John? Sinnoh. _

Cindy got up from her chair and walked out the tent and sure enough, she saw a boy with messy black hair and brown-amber eyes struggling with the men in suits, and by the looks of it, he was putting up a good fight.

"Take him in and slap some goddamn cuffs on him!" Said the red-patch man.

"What the--? Hey! HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU"RE DOING WITH MY POKEMON?! Grrr! GET OFF OF ME!" John struggled against the man putting handcuffs on him. The men tugged the struggling John to the tent Cindy was in and sat him down on the chair hard. John managed to spit at one of the guys before they left.

"You sure know how to make an impression." Cindy remarked with a smile.

John turned around and faced Cindy. "Cindy? Cindy Richards?"

Cindy smiled. "So, you still remember me, huh?"

John smirked. "How can I forget? You're the one who convinced me to come to Hoenn after we battled. Seeing all those badge convinced me to travel beyond Sinnoh in my quest to become a pokemon master. Or I would be if these bastards didn't lock me up. I just come here to challenge Roxanne and BAM! These guys just sweep me up for no reason at all!"

Cindy remembered during her travels in Sinnoh several months ago when she first battled John. His Pokemon consisted of a Monferno, an Eevee, and a Luxio. She herself had Quilava, a Sandshrew named Aimee, a Manectric named Sherry, and a Houndour named Rain. The two battled intensely, but Cindy overcame John, but he was no slouch himself.

"So, John, how've you been?"

He smiled a bit and gestured to his cuffs. "I've been better."

**Whew! So what did you all think? Please review and tell me what you think of this new addition. **

**John: Hurray! I'm back!**

**JonseyCat79: Uh, actually this **_**is**_** a prequel**_**, **_**so technically you're not back.**

**John: Aw man! Well, please review!**

**JC79: Exactly, please review. MEE-YAA!**


	4. Dark discoveries

**Transformation: Quarantine **

**Chapter 4- Dark Discoveries**

**A/N: To all my readers out there, let me take this time to say thank you for your support, especially TurtlesandMonkeys since this **_**is **_**a spin-off of her story. Now in another moment of insanity, I'm adding a character that was made by Lord Nalthren for a spin-off of my story…read along to find out. MEE-YAA!**

**Oh, on a side note, as of this writting, today is 08-6-08, exactly one year since TurtlesandMonkeys original "Transforamtion" story made its debut. Happy anniversary! MEE-YAA! **

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon or the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys. The character of John belongs to Swack 16, Lord Nalthren's character belongs to him, and Cindy belongs to me. Formalities aside, let's get to it!**

Cindy and John both waited in the tent that they were placed in. The sounds of the V.P.C.U. could be heard outside. Cindy and John haven't heard from the men or any other trainers who crossed paths with the unit since their apprehension. While Cindy was worrying what was happening to her pokemon, John was trying to escape from the handcuffs that bounded him to the chair, but he gave up after his arms began to grow tired**. **

"This sucks! How long are we supposed to wait here?"

Cindy simply shrugged, closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know. I just wonder what they're doing with our Pokemon. They're treating them like they're dangerous…weapons or something. Have you noticed the way people have been acting here since our arrival?"

John thought about it for a sec.

Cindy continued. "All the stores have been cleared out, People are boarding themselves up, trainers are being taken by this "Viral Pokemon Containment Unit", and not one wild Pokemon has appeared on my way here. The forest was unusually quiet when I was coming here. Something big is going on here John."

John looked at her. "So, what are we going to do?"

Cindy stood up. "I'm going to find Quilava and some answers." She stood by the tent entrance to make sure no one was guarding it.

"I'll be back."

John was about to say something when Cindy left the tent. He simply put his head down. "Well, guess I'll just wait here…"

Cindy was walking around the camp, getting an idea of her surroundings. The tents were made of gray nylon, the lamps stood on stands, illuminating the camp and the nearby forest. The men in suits were patrolling the city entrances while several Humvees were parked with their headlights on. Several others were just standing as motionless as statues, their heads turning like autonomous machines. With their haz-mat suits, they did seem like machines or soulless ghouls or something. Cindy kept low to avoid the searchlights. She felt almost like a criminal, but she was on a mission and could not lose focus.

_Quilava…don't worry, I'll find you…_

She got behind another tent when she heard voices inside. One voice was smug and relaxed. The other was cool but reluctant and a little agitated. Hoping to hear information on the whereabouts of her pokemon, Cindy listened in on their conversation.

"…Now just relax and listen, what happened on Omega Island was a necessary containment procedure…"

The agitated voice cut the smug voice out.

"You'll never convince me of that. I understand my employment, but now you step in and shut down what has been in my family for…"

"You understand the risks involved and why we did what we did."

Cindy saw the silhouettes through the tent. One of them was standing up. He appeared to be wearing a trench coat or something. The other one was sitting behind a desk. The figure sitting behind the desk raised his arm. "What we do is for the greater good of the world."

The standing figure raised his hands to his head. Cindy couldn't see it, but she had a feeling he put is hand to the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I bet you do. Another thing has been bugging me besides the little predicament you left my sister in on Omega Island; what is all this commotion I here from trainers that you're taking their pokemon?"

The sitting figure sat in his chair back some more.

"Akira, it's a crisis and in order to get things done, sometimes you got to twist a few arms for co-operation. It's another necessary containment measure. These trainers are "high risk carriers" and if we don't intercept them, some poor community will and they'll suffer the consequences unless we prevent it."

The standing figure (Akira, Cindy guessed) bent down on the sitting figures' desk.

"Another thing that's bugged me is that you've kept me in the dark about what exactly you're trying to prevent. I want answers, Jason."

"Just keep doing your job and all will be clear. Help us out and you'll be back in your cozy execs office back on Omega Island in no time. But you got to help us contain the situation first. I understand your group has caught several carriers."

"They're in the van, but I still don't see why you got us going after trainers when the real threat is in the wild…"

_A van? _Cindy looked around and sure enough, there was a long trailer behind a semi. It was large and looked like it contained cargo. There were troops guarding it. She left the two to argue among themselves and headed for the containment vehicle. She hoped Quilava was in there and not hurt. She needed to have a distraction or something so she could get inside. Suddenly a cry erupted from the center of the camp.

"BITE! WE GOTTA BITE HERE!" It was one of the containment units' voices. All the troops got up from their post and began to mobilize. There was activity from the command tent and out stepped a man with gelled blond hair and a silver HAZMAT suit. Behind him stepped a younger man with dark hair who looked about twenty wearing a trench coat and shades. The blond man strapped his helmet on and moved his arms in the direction of the cry. "What time is it?"

"11:55p.m, sir!" That was Marlow, who was rushing towards the panic area.

The blond man had a look of frustration. "Damn it. It's too late for a Lily Cove airlift. All right, everyone locate the subject and proceed with containment measure Zeta."

Cindy was wondering what was going on, but knew that this was her chance. She ran up to the containment vehicle, making sure nobody saw her. She looked around and thought she saw a boy in the distance with troops converging on him. From what see saw, he had terrible slashes across his shirt, some of the wounds bleeding. He clutched his bleeding arm, clutching a Pokeball. The men made a move to obtain it.

"My Sneasle...attacked… don't know why…needs help…" The boy said weakly.

Two men appeared behind him and grabbed him suddenly. His ball dropped to the ground while another troop went to retrieve it. They began forcing the boy off his feet and began taking him somewhere. Cindy then turned back to the vehicle and opened the door. She stepped inside, still hearing the boy's frantic struggle against the troops. There was a second door and Cindy opened it and when she walked in, various sounds of pokemon assaulted her ears. There were many types of pokemon in different cages, rattling them, hissing, spitting, roaring as if Cindy was a source of the agitation.

_These must be the pokemon infected with this "virus"… _

She began to get familiar with her surroundings. The pokemon that were not trying to have a piece of her had scared expression on their faces, as if they were unsure of their fate. There was something…odd about those pokemon. Cindy guessed that these Pokemon had belonged to trainers and were forcibly removed by the unit. She pitied them, and then grew angry at the men responsible for this. Sure this was a crisis, but did they have to resort to taking these pokemon from their trainers like this? She let her anger boil for a little before she began looking for her pokemon. She saw her poke belt, along with several others, hanging off of a bar. She began looking in the cages for any of her pokemon. "Quilava? Quilava, where are you?"

She listened, hoping for a familiar cry.

"Lava!"

Cindy headed for the direction of the sweet sound. Quilava was in a cage, looking back at Cindy with a scared expression on its face.

"Quilava! Hold on, I'm gonna get you out of there." She bent forward and began looking for a lock. She found it and undid the latch, lifted the swing door, and got Quilava out. Cindy hugged the little fire shrew as tightly as she ever did, tears coming to her eyes.

"Oh Quilava, I found you. We gotta get out of here." She reached for her Poke belt and clipped it on. She found her back pack and swung it around her shoulder.

"Ok, Quilava, let's get out of here." She stopped. _What about John? _She looked around for his poke belt and found it. She recognized it from the last time the battled. _But I still have to find keys for his cuffs…_

She searched around but couldn't find anything. She still took the belt in hopes of returning it to John. It would be safer with her than in this desolate dreary place.

She opened the door carefully. Looks like the unit was still occupied with the injured boy. She didn't know who he was, but she hoped he was alright.

Cindy was running to get back to the tent John was in when a terrible, shill scream erupted through the night. Cindy stopped, scared by the horrible noise. It was the injured boy.

She turned her head in the direction of the scream and although she couldn't see anything, the light made shadows on the surface of the tent walls. The silhouettes were visible and it looked like the troops were holding him by the arms as his head hung in pain. He kept screaming and screaming.

"Back away!" Cindy heard the red-patch man's voice.

The troops let him go.

Cindy went back to the tent. John looked up at her.

"What's up?" he asked, referring to the screams.

She put his poke belt next to him and gave him a frantic expression. I don't know, but we have to get out of here, and fast." John tried to get up, but his cuffs still held him to his chair.

"Damn it, I gotta get these off." He spotted a pitcher of water on the table. It must be for the unit.

"Hey, I have an idea. Grab into my poke belt and grab the first ball."

Cindy complied. "You mean this one?" She held the ball up.

John nodded. "Yeah. Now release it."

Cindy nodded. "Ok, Poke ball, go."

Light erupted from the ball and began to take on the shape of a pokemon.

"NAPE!" An Infernape cried out victoriously and beat its chest. The little fire pokemon resembled a red-faced monkey with a large flame burning on its head. It wore a gold chest ring and had shoulder pads, knee pads, and wrist bands. This pokemon was a fighter, much like its trainer.

"You remember Burn, my Monferno, Right? Well now he's an ass-kicking Infernape."

Cindy just stared. "You made me bring him out so you can show him off to me?"

John smirked. "This little hot-head is gonna help me out here. Burn?"

Burn stepped forward. "Heat up your hands as hot as you can and grab on to these handcuffs." The Infernape hesitated before complying with his master's wishes. John winced a bit as the metal began to grow hot. Soon the cuffs began to glow.

"Quick, Cindy, grab the water and splash it on, now!"

Cindy rushed with the water and splashed it on his cuffs. Soon, the metal began to creak and cracked. Infernape then tugged and the cuffs fell to pieces. They landed on the ground with a clattering sound. John massaged his wrist, a few minor burns on them. He grinned none the less.

"Good job. Burn return! He recalled the monkey pokemon back into its ball.

"Pretty smart, huh?" He asked Cindy.

"Yeah, whatever, lets get out of here!" The two ran out of the tent, but not before another scream caught Cindy's attention. She turned and saw the silhouette of the boy fold in on itself, clutching itself in pain. Cindy thought she was imagining things, but she could have sworn that its shape was changing. What looked like a feather appeared on one side, kind of like…

_A Sneasle's? _

The silhouette then held out his arms as what looked like claws appeared. The screaming then altered itself into a feral cry as the changing…boy or whatever, lashed out at the containment crew. The tent fell aside revealing a horrible sight.

"Come on Cindy, we have to go!" Johnwaved his arm, but Cindy couldn't pry her eyes from the scene.

The boy was blackish blue all over his body. His teeth was sharp and they attempted to bite into the containment suit of a troop. His limbs started to grow slimmer as his hands completely fused and his claws grew their full length. The inhuman boy continued to jump and lash out at the troops, his changes furthering themselves. The last of his brown hair fell to the ground as a gem appeared on his forehead. Three red feather like appendages sprouted from his rear as his body shrunk, his head getting a little larger as his nose turned black. His eyes grew more intense looking as his ear moved to the side and became a bit pointed. His clothing fell of and a red gem appeared on his chest.

"SNEEEASLE!" The newly formed pokemon roared defiance at the unit, forsaking its former humanity, it eyes the eyes of an active predator.

Cindy stared at this abomination with fear. _Is this what the virus does to us?_

Quilava rubbed against her leg, trying to alert her of something. Cindy looked down and realized she never felt such an uncertainty about her pokemon before. _What if…_

She felt a hand grip her shoulder, she gasped and turned around to face John.

"Cindy. Let's get going."

Cindy nodded blankly, her eyes still wide, her brain replaying that horrifying image.

John looked back

"Oh crap! Looks like they spotted us."

Cindy glanced back. While some of the team stayed back to contain the boy/Sneasle, others began pointing and running in their direction. Cindy began to run, Quilava following behind her.

"Hold it! In the name of the Hoenn Defense Corps, HALT!" That was the red-patch man.

Cindy and John ran away from the unit as fast as they could. Quilava almost fell behind but Cindy scooped it up in her arms and continued to run, faster than she has ever done before. She ran to escape, the V.P.C.U., to escape their pursuers. But mostly, she ran to escape the ghastly scene that transpired before her. But she knew, deep in her mind, she would never escape those screams.

**A/N: Finally. Isn't wonderful when your creative reservoirs unleash wonderful ideas that work? It took me several drafts to write this chapter the way I liked it, but it got done. Finally have a TF scene in this story and its taking a dark turn in tone, if you ask me. Well anyway, please review. Oh, and bonus points to anyone who can name the movie that inspired the "BITE!" scene above. (Hint:"...evila llits s'tI") **

**JonseyCat out! MEE-YAA!**


	5. Recovery and doubt

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter five- Doubt and recovery**

**A/N: "Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to me. " Yes, that's right, I'm one year older today! But instead of me receiving gifts, I think I'll give all you loyal readers out there a little gift from ol' me…an update! And if you're wondering, I'm still old enough to know what death looks like. (I can finally watch movies like **_**Deathrace**_** and other R-rated films without an escort! Oops, did that slip? XD) Now back to the story. Thank you all for your input. I'm really starting to gain faith in this story and its counterpart Ancient Society: Ascension, and its all thanks to support from readers like you, thank you. Oh, and Swack 16 gets three bonus points for figuring out the movie I was referencing in the last chapter: It was Cloverfield. Stay posted; I might make other challenges like the last one. MEE-YAA!**

**08-09-08**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or the Transformation Universe set up by TurtlesandMonkeys. I'm doing this with authorization from her. John belongs to Swack 16, Akira belongs to Lord Nalthren, and Cindy belongs to me. CHIKA, CHIKORI! **

Cindy and John both ran as fast as they could, little Quilava in Cindy's arms. The two ran until they couldn't run anymore. They hid behind a bush on the side of the road. Cindy fell to the ground and panted. John put his arm on a nearby tree and let his head hang. Even Quilava was panting from exhaustion.

"Did we lose them?" John asked with one eye open, the other clenched tightly.

"Uh-huh." Cindy said with both her eyes closed. The events that transpired still replayed in her head. _Those screams…_

John got up and walked to her. He saw how tired she was and felt a little worried.

"You ok?"

Cindy still panted hard and nodded forcefully. "I just need a little rest."

John knelt besides her. "You look like you need more than that. You're still thinking about what happened back there, aren't you?"

Cindy's eyes opened suddenly, tears rushing from them. She looked at John with a look of pain and fear.

"Did you see what happened to that boy? Did you see it when he changed…. into a…. a…."

She felt the rest of her words caught up in a sob. What scared Cindy more about the virus is that she saw the boy's humanity disappear before her eyes, saw him become a wild creature, saw the humanity leave his eyes. She came to a sickening realization that the sad pokemon were probably mourning their transformed trainers who were imprisoned with them. _Or…the pokemon were the trainers…_

Quilava rubbed against her leg, trying to comfort its frightened friend. Cindy cried out a bit at Quilava's touch, then relaxed and embraced her little companion. Quilava still had a feeling that Cindy's trust in it was starting to waver. _What if Quilava…_

"Oh Quilava, I'm sorry!" Cindy sobbed some more and hugged it. John looked aside, as if he was searching for words.

"You're still a bit rattled. I'll give you a moment. I'll keep a look out for any of those H.D-goons." John got up and walked away from the two.

Cindy and Quilava were still hugging. _Oh Quilava! I'm terrible for suspecting you! I should know that you would never harm me in any way. We're friends, right?_

The little Quilava warmed up a bit to make Cindy feel better. It closed its eyes, nuzzled its head against Cindy, and made a little cry.

"Quil, Quilava!"

Cindy felt the tears subside. "Quilava…"

Suddenly, the forest didn't feel so foreboding anymore.

Then, there was a sound in the bushes. Cindy gasped and turned around. Quilava jumped from her lap and landed in front of her, its flames appearing from its back and its head, the little fire pokemon in position for battling.

John walked into the clearing, both arms extended in defense.

"Relax, it's only me."

Cindy got up, wiped the last of her tears, and put on a smile for John.

"You had us there for a moment."

John smirked. "Come on, let's get moving."

Cindy looked around. "Where? "

"Anywhere away from those V.P.C.-whatever guys. Those bastards cost me my badge at Rustboro." His clenched fist trembled a bit. John still must be sore about not being able to challenge Roxanne.

"Still, I might as well go the next town and get my badge there."

Cindy thought John was impossible. Here is this virus going around and John was still concerned with badges? _Boys…_

"I think we should focus on getting out of Hoenn. If this virus turns us into pokemon, then Hoenn isn't safe anymore."

John nodded. "You're right. Still, there's no harm in trying to continue on our Pokemon journey on our way out." He smiled a bit.

"Well, let's try and figure out where we are." Cindy said. She looked around, getting a feeling for her surroundings. "We don't want to get caught up with the containment unit again. I know they're trying to help, but their methods are a bit…_ much."_ She thought of the kindhearted Marlow, then thought of the harshness of the red-patch man's voice. There was a bit of duality to this unit. They could worsen the problem before they solve it.

"I think we're on route 116. If I remember correctly, there is a cave connecting Rustboro to Verdanturf town…or we could go back and try to bypass the viral containment unit or whatever, and try to go either to Lavaridge or Petalburg. Both of them sound dangerous."

John just smiled. "Just the way I like it." He winked at her.

Suddenly the two heard footsteps. John turned around and put himself into a fighting stance while Cindy reached for one of her Pokeballs. She reached for her third one.

A figure appeared out of the bushes. Cindy released her ball. "Go, Sherry!" The ball split open and out came a blue four-legged pokemon with a yellow cone shaped head, and several yellow areas near its hindquarters.

"Manectric!" the electric type cried out.

"Alright, Sherry, use thunder wave!"

Sherry nodded and bent down. Suddenly sparks appeared and it traveled in a wave towards the intruder.

"Yaaah! Wait! I'm not going to hur-…" A girl's voice sounded out. She fell back as the paralysis began to take hold. John ran up to the fallen figure and grabbed that person by the shirt, his other fist ready.

The voice registered familiarity in Cindy and then she ran up to John.

"John, hold it! I know this person."

John turned to her.

"You do?"

Cindy got a better look at the girl. She was about her age, and the belt with poke balls signified her as a trainer. She had brown hair in a long ponytail, and wore an orange headband with green borderlines. She wore an orange vest over her green tank top, and her shorts were orange as well. Her shoes were orange with green stripes. Cindy knew this person, from her earlier years in Johto.

"Oh, sorry about that! You had the jump on us. We thought you were someone else. John, let her go."

John picked her up lightly and let go of her shirt. The girl wobbled a bit, and then, when the paralysis left her, she slapped John.

"Ow! We said we were sorry!" John said, smarting from the blow.

The girl frowned. "Humph, well, that doesn't excuse the fact that you attacked me. I'm sorry I startled you, but I was just exploring when you just jump out and…" She stopped when her eyes came to Cindy. "Cindy, is that you?"

"Hi, Lina." Cindy just waved back.

The girl just stood there for a moment, then regained her composure and made a motion like wiping off sweat from her head. "It's been awhile."

"Yes, it has." Cindy just smiled.

John just stood there.

"Can somebody tell me what's going on?"

Lina blushed. "Oh, forgot to introduce myself." She cleared her throat a bit.

"I'm Lina Christensen from New Bark town. Cindy and me know each other because we're from the same hometown. We grew up together."

Cindy put her arms behind her. "Yeah. She started her journey before me though, because I waited too long. How's Lily doing?"

Lina closed her eyes in a smile. "Just great. Can you believe she's a Meganium now? It only seems like yesterday she was a little Chikorita. I see you have a Quilava."

Cindy picked up Quilava. "Yeah, not quite a Typlosion yet, but that's Ok. I liker her the way she is."

Lina rolled her eyes with a lighthearted smile.

"So, who's your friend? A boyfriend or something?"

Cindy and John both perked up when the words left her mouth. John began to laugh while Cindy blushed. "No, he's a friend. This is John, a trainer I met in Sinnoh."

Lina looked John over. "Could have fooled me. Sinnoh, huh? You know, I've never been there before. Oh, and sorry about the slap."

John just rubbed the area that was slapped. He gave a smile. "Don't worry about it. I'd be mad too if somebody suddenly attacked me for no reason at all."

Lina laughed a bit. "So, why so strung up?"

Cindy and Johns faces became stern.

"There's some virus going around that turns Pokemon into monsters and us into Pokemon, and there's some psycho unit rounding up trainers. You wouldn't want to meet either of them. That's why we're getting off this region." Cindy told Lina.

Something clicked inside Lina. "Oh, you mean the Pokemon transformation virus?"

Cindy raised an eyebrow. "You know about it already?"

"Yeah, some scientist lady told everyone about it. I caught the special on it a little late, but I heard enough to know that it's a bit dangerous to be pokemon training out here. I was going to head for Lilycove, but I had to check up on a friend at Rustboro first. He's always playing with that Sneasle of his."

A pang of guilt hit Cindy in the stomach. Lina knew the boy. She didn't know what to say to Lina. Lina read Cindy's face and her face grew worried.

"You saw something, didn't you?" Lina asked.

"We have to get moving. I remember hearing the commander talk about a Lilycove airlift and Marlow told me that they were taking people to Lilycove. I think that's where we'll find some answers and a way out of this mess. "

Lina broke from her concerned look and looked at Cindy. "I remember. The scientist said she was opening clinics across the region, starting in Lilycove. These clinics are for the cure, I think."

Cindy clenched her fist. "Then that's where we're going."

"Hold on Cindy. There's a chance that we might run into those guys again up there."

John said with a stern look.

"We'll, the only way we're going to find out is if we go there."

John smirked. "I was hoping you would say that."

-End of chapter-

**A/n: That's the end of that one. Looks like Cindy and John have another friend to add to the party, but will they all make it to the end?**

**John: Hold on! Everyone knows what happens to me already.**

**JonseyCat: I was just asking for the sake of asking. Just go with it!**

**Well anyway, please review. Oh, 3 bonus points to anyone who could name the character who inspired the look for Lina and another two points for figuring out where I got the name. (Hint1: "…a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold …" Hint 2: "Dragon slave!") MEE-YAA! **


	6. Why we fall down

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 6: "Why we fall down…" **

**A/N: Here's another installment of Quarantine. The answers to the challenge of Lina are Seong Mi-na from the Soul Calibur Series (SCIII) and Lina Inverse from **_**The Slayers**_** anime. (Dragon slave is her most powerful spell, Giga slave in some versions). As promised, three bonus points go to Lord Nalthren for guessing right on Seong Mi-na. Back to the story. We are at a crossroads that will tie in to events in Nalthren's story Chronicle of the beholder and TurtlesandMonkeys' Ancient Society story. Oh, and keep an eye out for a one-shot detailing John's POV during the Mauville Incident. (To TaM, What color is the Shiny Eevee that bites John?) Now lets get rolling, MEE-YAA!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon OR the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys. Swack 16 owns John, Lord Nalthren owns Akira, and I own Cindy and Lina. CHIKA! CHIKORI!**

Morning struck and the sun was beginning to rise, its golden rays shining against the Hoenn mountains. In their little rest area in the forest, Cindy, John, and their newfound friend, Lina, stirred in their sleep. Quilava was curled up with Cindy in a doll-like embrace, its little breaths synchronizing with its trainer's. The morning light glinted near Cindy and she slowly woke up. She rubbed her eyes and cricked her neck a bit. She looked down and saw her little partner still curled up. She looked around and saw where John slept, his hand on one Pokeball as if to wake up and unleash it should trouble appear. John was vigilant, Cindy gave him that. Lina rested her head on her arms, sleeping on her stomach. Cindy thought back to when she surprised them and they accidentally paralyzed her last night.

She looked back to her sleeping pokemon and gently shook it. The little Quilava began to stretch and yawned then it opened its eyes and looked at Cindy. It gave a quick little cry, it way of saying 'Good morning'.

"Good morning, Quilava." Cindy said with a smile. It felt good to have a morning like this, especially after what happened last night. _The boy…_

Cindy shook the thought away from her head. She then quietly moved to Lina and shook her awake. She did the same to John. John began to yawn and stretch. Lina however, shook Cindy off and continued sleeping. "But mommy, I don't want to feed the Miltank today…"

Cindy shook Lina some more, a little more roughly this time. Lina groaned.

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up." She still had her eyes closed when she stretched her arms, released a long yawn, then her drowsiness seemed to disappear when her peppiness came back. They were all awake now.

Cindy looked at her companions. "Alright, it's morning. If we hurry now, we can make it out of Rusturf caves to Verdanturf town this afternoon and from there head to Mauville City."

John stretched some more. "Mauville, huh? There's a gym there. I may not have gotten Roxanne, but I bet I can get the gym leader there, that's if he's still there."

"After Mauville, we trek to Fortree and from there head to Lilycove by tomorrow or the day after." Cindy relayed their travel plan.

Lina looked at Cindy. "That's good and all, but what happens if one of us gets the virus?"

Cindy thought about it. "I'm not sure, so let's try not to."

John got up. "Well, what are we waiting for, breakfast in bed? Let's get to it!'

His stomach rumbled. He face faulted, put his hand behind his head and smiled sheepishly. "Well, let's eat first, _then _get to it."

Lina opened her bag. "Lucky for you I got some Granola bars here."

Cindy nodded. "They'll do for now."

--

The trio moved down the road and reached the entrance to Rusturf tunnels, the tunnel that connects Rustboro to Verdanturf town. The three waited at the tunnel's entrance.

"It might be dark in there." Cindy said glancing at the cave.

Lina had an idea. "I know, maybe we can use a pokemon to light up the way, and I know just which one to use." She reached into her poke belt.

"Go, Suzie!'

Her ball erupted and the light began to form itself into a tall shape. The light subsided to reveal a yellow pokemon with a long neck. Its striped tail had a red ball at the end, one that began to glow with electricity. The ball between its striped ears also glowed. It was happy with electricity and joy.

"Amph, Ampharos!" Cried Suzie. Lina had a proud expression on her face. She then pointed the mouth of the tunnel. "Alright Suzie, let's lighten things up!" John and Cindy just stared. Lina sweat dropped. "Sorry."

The trio went into the cave with Suzie leading the way. The light from its ornament-like appendages illuminated the area like a flashlight. This reminded Cindy of something. "Hey John, did you know that an Ampharos is used to light up the lighthouse at Olivine City?"

John looked back. "Really? Huh, I've never been to Johto, but once this whole virus thing blows over, I'm gonna go and win some badges over there."

Lina smirked. "It ain't going to be easy. Johto leaders don't scrub out to chumps."

John shot a questioning glare. "Are you trying to say something?"

Lina just raised her arms. "I'm just saying, don't take any Johto leaders too lightly. I bet the gym leaders at Sinnoh are just as tough, so you probably know what you're doing. I'm just warning you, that thick head is going to land you in a bunch of trouble one day."

John was about to shoot off a response, but a look from Cindy told him to drop it. The little Ampharos continued to illuminate the dark cave. Cindy scanned the area, making sure no Pokemon would surprise them. She had her hand on her poke belt, just incase.

The Ampharos stopped.

"Amph?" It was hunched over something, inspecting something on the floor. Lina stopped.

"What is it Suzie?" She asked. The little Ampharos turned towards its trainer, its paw grasping something. It looked like a piece of clothing.

The three trainers stopped. Cindy studied what the Ampharos had in its paw. It looked like a tattered shirt. _Like something punctured it or…_ Cindy anxiously grabbed a Pokeball.

Lina too studied the shirt. She saw behind Suzie and saw some more articles of clothing, scattered about.

"I have a bad feeling about this." John said.

As if heeding John's words, a chittering sound came from the left, then behind, then on top of them. Despite her self, Cindy looked up, and quickly regretted it.

There were Zubat hanging off of the cave roof.

The blue bats were chittering like crazy. Cindy could count at least five at the moment. One made a screech and began to fly off of its perch.

"RUN!" Cindy cried out. That spooked the other Zubat and the blue bats began to descend. Cindy began to run, John and Lina following suit. Little Suzie covered her head as the bats began to swarm. Lina looked back and pulled out her Pokeball.

"Suzie, return!" The red light flashed and Suzie was recalled. Lina continued to run. The Zubat made horrible screeching sounds as they pursued their prey.

"Don't look back, just run as fast as you can!" Cindy cried out.

A Zubat suddenly swooped by and began to flap near her head. Cindy screamed and began to swat at the bat. More Zubat began to swarm around her, their wings batting against her body, there deafening screeches blocking out Lina and Johns cries for her. _So many Zubat! Oh, I hope none of them bite me… _Cindy suddenly contemplated life as a Zubat then curled up into a fetal position, tears streaming down her face, her mind screaming for any type of help. She could swear she felt the breath of one behind her neck.

Suddenly, the bats stopped and were surrounded by a blue light. The bats then began to slam against the wall. Cindy looked up to see an Espeon with its eyes glowing blue. John was behind it. "Come on!" He waved a frantic arm at her. Cindy got up and began to run behind the Espeon.

When Cindy and Lina got far enough from the Zubat, John turned back to his Espeon.

"Alright, Kairi, use confuse ray now!"

"Esp." The psychic pokemon nodded. Its eyes glowed again and then it released an array of rainbow rays at the bats. It struck them and the bats began to fly in confused patterns.

John smiled at his handiwork and continued to run.

John and his Espeon made it to the end of the cave, seeing Lina comforting a panting Cindy on the ground. She hugged Lina tightly. She looked at John then hugged him.

"Thank you! Oh, I thought they we're going to get me for sure!"

John patted her back. "Easy now, just relax. And it wasn't just me. Kairi helped to."

The Espeon sat next to its master and nodded. Cindy stroked it between its ears.

"You've grown from being an Eevee, I see. You were great in there."

Lina waved to them and shouted. "Hey guys! The town is just around the bend! Come on!" She said excitedly. John looked at Cindy and nodded. She just smiled back.

"Thank you, John. I owe you one."

The two ran to catch up with Lina.

**A/N: Well, there goes another chapter. Close one, huh? **

**John: Alright! I saved the day again! **

**Me: That you did. It's a shame we're going to throw you in the lion's den soon.**

**John: What?**

**Me: Anyway, please review. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**

**CHIKA!CHIKORI!!**


	7. Joy and sorrow

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 6: Joy and sorrow**

**A/N: Well, for better or for worse, School has started. (Hears bemoaning cries) Actually, other than a few issues with my school counseling, this year actually looks pretty promising. (I gotta right some wrongs done to me, ugh. To think senior year would be any better. XO) Expect few updates if the workload increases. (Considering my grade level, that might actually come to pass, but I could be wrong.) Well, back to the story. Cindy and her group just escaped a hairy situation in Rusturf caves, but they successfully managed to come out virtually unharmed…(Evil smirk). **

**But one question remains: Have they leapt out the frying pan, or have they stumbled deeper into the belly of the beast? Stay tuned to find out. **

**MEE-YAA!**

**Oh, I should probably mention that the bat scene in the last chapter was inspired by the "back-up" scene from Batman Begins.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokemon universe. I also do not own the Transformation universe or any characters that appear from that particular universe, TurtlesandMonkeys does. John belongs to Swack 16, and Cindy and Lina are mine.**

Cindy, John, and Lina continued down the path to Verdanturf town. The little cozy community smelled of a sweet fragrance. The breeze swayed the grass in an almost romantic type of way. The town itself felt like the setting for a romance story.

"Let's go to the poke center for a rest." Suggested Cindy.

The trio walked down the aisles of town. The town wasn't completely deserted, for people were visible, but still, an air of uncertainty and fear hung in the air. There was a little boy playing on the streets near the forest. An older woman, his mother probably, suddenly grabbed him by the arm and held him back from the forest. She apparently scolded him, then protectively hugged him and went back into their house. _They must know about the virus too… _Thought Cindy. The three of them continued walking towards the Pokemon center.

The three reached the pokemon center. Cindy looked through the glass door to make sure that it wasn't empty. She saw somebody at the Videophone, trying to make a call. It was Nurse Joy.

"Is there anyone in there?" Asked Lina.

Cindy nodded. "Yeah, Nurse Joy."

"Well, let's go in?" Said John as he opened the door.

--

"…Please, sis, if you get this, please call back…." Nurse Joy hung over the phone, her eyes filled with worry and despair. Nothing but the ring of the phone sounded on the line. At the other center, the phone was probably still ringing off the hook. Nurse Joy heard the door open. She turned around. "Just a minute!" She called back. She then turned her attention to the phone again. The phone rang and she quickly picked it up.

"Hello?"

"It's me, from Rustboro." She turned on the video feed and an identical girl to herself appeared on the monitor. The only difference was the cross on her hat was a different color.

"Did you get any call back from Fallabor? " She asked anxiously.

Nurse Joy shook her head. "None at all. I'm beginning to think that she…" Her voice trailed off.

The Joy on the monitor tried to put on comforting look. "Don't even think it. I'm sure she's only hiding out safely until help arrives."

Nurse Joy only bit her lip. She knew that it was wishful thinking. First, she hasn't heard from her sister in Fallabor. Second, another one of her sisters disappears after tending a pokemon that a person gave her to watch. She suspected the worst.

"Be careful, sister."

"I will."

She hung up the phone. _Duty calls…_

John and Cindy sat in the waiting room while Lina waited at the counter.

Nurse Joy appeared. She tried to put her mind away from her missing family and put on a smile.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

Lina unclipped her belt and set it on the counter. "Can you give my pokemon a rest, please?" Nurse Joy took the belt. "Of course. This won't take too long," She said with her usual smile.

Cindy still looked out the window while John was resting briefly from where he sat. He saved her from a possible Zubat bite, and she didn't know how to thank him.

Lina simply shrugged and remembered something. "I gotta make a phone call." She walked to the videophones and picked one up. She dialed a number and the call was sent. She waited while the phone rang. The screen suddenly lit up with the face of a girl with bright blue hair and colorful clothes. "Hello? " She asked.

"Hey Umi, is Maku there?" Lina asked.

"Hold on. Maku, it's for you! It's Lina." She called back.

(**Yes**_**,**_** I went along and did it. Umi belongs to TaM too, MEE-YAA)**

There was the sound of running feet. A little boy with spiky light blue hair and glasses appeared. Umi gave the phone to her little brother.

"Thanks Umi. Hi Lina, what's up?" He asked.

"Nothing much. Listen, I'm out here with some friends of mine. I met up with them on route 116 on my way to check up on Ken in Rustboro, but I think Ken is…" She trailed off a bit. "Anyway, we're in Verdanturf town and I was wondering if you could find out some info."

Maku nodded. "Sure, anything. What do you need?"

"Anything on--what was it called again Cindy?" She cried back.

"The Viral Pokemon Containment Unit."

Lina turned back to the screen. "What she said."

Maku pushed up his glasses. "Ok, I'll get on it. Meet me up at our place in Mauville. I'll have the stuff ready when you come by."

A thought occurred to Cindy. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you have access to video files too?"

"Yeah, just name the clip and I'll have it ready by then. What do you need?"

"The conference about the pokemon virus."

Maku nodded. "Ok, I'll look into it. My parents are really scared because of this virus, but I'm not worried. I have Umi and Pichu for protection." He closed his eyes in a smile. Lina smiled back. "Alright, we'll see you in Mauville."

The little boy laughed. "Ok, see ya!" The phone clicked off.

A crash came from behind and everyone turned. Then a cry from Nurse Joy sounded from the back room. Lina rushed to the room behind the counter with Cindy and John following. Lina gasped.

Nurse Joy was on the ground, clutching her arm, blood seeping from the little bite marks. Lina looked up to see Suzie, its eyes filled with rage. Lina only noticed the tooth marks on the little Ampharos's neck at that moment. _Back in the cave…_

Only then did Lina realize the sickening truth.

Suzie had the virus.

Lina walked in, but Cindy and John both held her back.

"Suzie!" Lina called out, reaching for her former friend.

The little Ampharos took a step forward, a growl emanating from deep with in its throat, little sparks of electricity sparking from it. Nurse Joy weakly reached for the ball and threw it back at Suzie. The little Pokemon saw it coming and simply moved to avoid it. It clattered uselessly against the floor.

"Come on, we have to go." Said Cindy.

"No! Suzie needs help, I-I gotta do something!" She said, fighting back tears.

The Ampharos continued to walk toward them. Nurse Joy began to get up, holding her arm.

"Go…now…" She said weakly, getting up and clutching her bleeding arm. Cindy looked at her.

"No, we have to help. We…"

"GO! While you have the chance, run…" She said, a little stronger this time.

Her eyes were begging for them to go. She had accepted her fate and wouldn't want to drag them down too. "…go…."

Cindy nodded, fighting back tears. She and John both took the struggling Lina away from the room. John looked back and saw Nurse Joy nod. Before he shut the door and put a chair against the handle, Cindy saw Nurse Joy's eyes one last time. There was sadness, but there was also hope in those eyes.

Lina was on her hands and knees, her fist banging against the linoleum floor, her tears flowing freely. Cindy understood her pain and anger. This virus claimed one friend and just now claimed another. She knelt down besides her. "Lina…" She didn't know what to say.

There was a sudden thud against the door. "AMPH! AMPHAROS!" The angry cries of the pokemon could be heard and the door shuddered from another blow.

"I think we should go now." John said.

"But Nurse Joy…" Cindy started to say, but she realized there was nothing she could do to help her. She put her head down in defeat. She then turned to Lina, her friend still sniffing on the floor.

"Lina, you have to get a grip. Nurse Joy is in there sacrificing her self so we could get away. We wouldn't want that to be in vain."

"Suzie…" Lina only whispered.

"Lina, Suzie is not the pokemon you once knew. We have to get out before we're all infected." Lina got up but still glanced at the door. "Suzie would have wanted that too if any of us were in your position."

Lina looked down. "You're right." She took one final glance at the door that is holding off her onetime friend, then took off with Cindy and John.

The trail of tears was still visible.

**A/N: Wow, Nurse Joys can't seem to get a break at all. Sorry about that. This seemed like a natural way to move the story and it also reminded me of the sacrifices made in the original series, which I love so. Oh, and if people were wondering, the night that the newly named Ken (A.K.A. Sneasle boy) transformed happened on the night Missy and co. were taken away by the Ancient Society, so the Mauville incident is at hand. And as for adding Umi; think of it as a tribute to the dearly departed **_**Mutated**_**. Anyway, please leave you reviews. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**


	8. Nurse Joy

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter-8: Nurse Joy**

**A/N: I know it's a break from the main plot, but this chapter will focus on the final moments of our friend in Verdanturf Town…**

**Oh! By the way, I FINALLY caught Entei on my Pokemon Crystal version on 8-19-08 at 3:36 p.m., thus completing my acquisition of the three legendaries that consist of Raikou, Suicune and Entei. I also caught Ho-oh the same day at 4:40 with my Lapras that used an Ice beam attack that froze it solid. You TF readers probably know what I named my Lapras…**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T own Pokemon or the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys. **

Nurse Joy finished bandaging her wounded arm. The pokemon center was in disarray, with chairs turned over and papers scattered. Unfortunately, the Ampharos found a way out and ran into the wild. Luckily, no one else was bitten. Nurse Joy sighed and looked at her arm, the pain still present in her mind.

_So, I'm going to be a pokemon…_

She heard the front doors open. She turned suddenly and saw a man with a black trench coat there, his eyes shaded by ebony sunglasses.

"Are you hurt?" He asked in a stern voice. His eyes caught Nurse Joy's bandaged arm.

"I see… I'm sorry." Nurse Joy only looked down.

"Listen, I'm looking for some trainers who might have come through here. Do you know where they are?" He asked.

Nurse Joy only looked to the side. "I told them to run. I don't think they're in town anymore…"

"Hmm, I'll look into it. I'm sorry for your situation." The man said.

Nurse Joy closed her eyes. "Then you know, don't you…" She felt tears starting to flow. The man looked to the side, then looked at her again. "I wouldn't worry. I'm sure that there's a way to help you. Maybe…" He trailed off, knowing that it wasn't right to give such false hope.

"I think its best you leave now, sir…" Nurse Joy tearfully said. The man turned the started to walk, took a quick glance at Joy, then turned and left. Nurse Joy looked at the clock.

6:50

She sighed and began to pick up the Pokemon center to keep her mind off of things.

--

Later that night, Nurse Joy had finished picking up the pokemon center and put a closed sign on the front door. Only a few more hours. She turned her attention to the videophone. She walked up to it and began to dial a number. She waited while the dial tone rang. She tried to keep a stern face._ I have to do this…_

"Hello, Rustboro Pokemon center. How may I help you?" The face of a Nurse Joy lit up the screen.

"Hello, sis." Said Nurse Joy.

The Joy on the monitor noticed her expression. "What's wrong?" She asked, her face full of worry.

Nurse Joy took a breath. "I…I've been…I've been infected…" She finally let it out.

The Joy on the monitor gasped. "What? When?" She brought a hand to her mouth in worry.

Nurse Joy looked to the side. "I just wanted to let you know what happened to me. I wouldn't want you to worry about me, so…." She felt tears coming to her eyes.

The Joy on the monitor got closer to the screen. "Now don't…don't…there has to be a way to…there has to…" Tears were welling up in her eyes too.

Nurse Joy shook her tears. "Take care sis, and be careful." She said, trying to sound strong.

"Sis!" The other one cried out, tears flowing freely.

Nurse Joy blinked a tearful smile. "Goodbye…"

She clicked the monitor off.

Elsewhere, in Rustboro, a girl slid over the videophone, weeping.

--

11:58

Nurse Joy looked turned away from the clock.

_It's almost time…I sure hope those trainers are Ok…_

She looked to her injury, her mind thinking back to the sudden attack that the Ampharos committed. _And now, I'm going to become one…_

She closed her eyes, her thoughts drifting to her other siblings and hoping that they were safe. Her thoughts drifted to her younger sister in Rustboro, probably pouring her soul out in tears. She felt some approach her eyes.

_Goodbye…sister…_

12:00

Midnight struck and Nurse Joy could feel the transformation begin.

She cried out a bit as she felt pain swell all over her body, her nerves being set ablaze by this virus. She felt an extreme pressure building at her tailbone. She screamed out loud as she felt her spine push itself over her rear and extend itself outward. She felt her spine extend into a tail that pushed itself through her underwear and continue to grow until it reached its full length. It was yellow with black stripes and she felt a red ball growing at the end. She fell to her knees and grabbed her sides as more pain racked her body, her tear-soaked eyes clenched tightly in pain, her teeth gritting hard in endurance. Her body began to turn a yellow color with white forming on her stomach and chest. Her arms then began to painfully grow shorter. She opened her eyes a bit to see her fingers grow back into her hand, leaving a round yellow stub for a hand. Her legs made a horrible grinding sound as they began to shrink into the legs of an Ampharos. Her dress/skirt then slid off her body as it began to get smaller and round itself out to become the body of an Ampharos. Her head and neck were last. Her neck began to grow outward and shoot up as three black stripes appeared. Her pink hair turned yellow and began to fuse with her head, a red ball painfully pushing itself out her forehead. Her ears moved to the top of her head and shaped themselves into the pointy ears of an Ampharos, black stripes appearing on them. Her nose pushed out into a snout, the nose holes disappearing and her mouth moved under the snout and the change was complete.

The Ampharos shook the nurse's hat off of its head and let out a cry that reverberated throughout the pokemon center, and out into the night sky.

**A/N: I know this deviates a bit from the main storyline, but dang it this is called **_**Transformation**_**: Quarantine. I felt that it would be wrong if we left our friend Nurse Joy hanging and I loved the little interaction between the two Joys. And **_**yes**_**, the man in the opening was Akira. The line Nurse Joy has before she transforms is a bit of an homage to Chloe's final thoughts in the original story**.** But don't worry, we'll be seeing some more of Cindy and the others soon. Anyway, please review. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA! **


	9. Eve of disaster

**Transformation: Quarantine **

**Chapter 9- Eve of disaster**

**A/N: Lord Nalthren can finally thank me for updating a chapter that relates to his story in a major way. And by the way, the one-shot featuring John after his Quarantine experience that ties directly into Ancient Society is out now, so check it out. (Thank you Swack16!) Lets get it on!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Transformation belongs to TurtlesandMonkeys. Swack 16 owns John and Lord Nalthren owns Akira. I myself have ownership over Cindy and Lina. MEE-YAA!**

The three continued to run away from Verdanturf town. They soon came to a stop for a rest, tired, panting, and Lina still coping with the loss of her friend. John beat his fist in frustration.

"Man! I can't believe that this is happening! No one is safe from this virus, not even our own pokemon!" His clenched fist trembled.

Cindy thought about his words and thought back to the cave with the Zubat, then to the incident that just happened at the Pokemon center with Nurse Joy. _Suzie just…I hope that does not happen to Quilava…_

Lina still trembled a bit. "Oh, if only I could've helped her back at the caves. It was my fault! Now she's a monster and poor Nurse Joy will turn into a pokemon and-and…!" The rest of her words were caught up in a sob. Cindy went by her to comfort her. She too was worried. John still stood there looking angry. "Well, what are we going to do now?"

"We still have to get out of Hoenn." Cindy said. "We'll head to Mauville and rest there, then go straight to Lilycove and head off to Johto. Hopefully, the virus didn't hit there."

John just nodded.

Suddenly, a rustle came from the bushes. All three of them turned around. Out of the bushes stepped a young man who looked about twenty. He had black hair and some sunglasses and he wore a trench coat. Cindy recognized him. He was at the Rustboro camp. _The man from the command tent…_

"Well, it took some doing, but I finally found you guys." He said in a voice that was cool but not cruel. His sharp blue eyes shone from beneath his sunglasses.

John stepped forward. "And just who the hell are you?"

The man was about to answer when a voice sounded behind him. "Akira! Akira, wait up."

He put his fingers to the bridge of his nose and turned around to face a girl who looked about 19 with red hair. "Jeez, almost lost you back there." The girl said, kind of blushing.

"Evaglin, please, if you're going to tag along, at least keep up." He said, kind of turning red for some reason.

"Sorry." Said the girl, Evaglin, who Cindy noticed was not wearing much in the name of clothing, just a white tank top with black jeans and a red jacket.

"Anyway, my name's Akira Ryoto. This is Evaglin Kikari, my chief of security back at Omega Island."

"You're with those H.D.-whatever guys, are you?" John asked with a firm tone.

Akira did his annoyance gesture again. "Yes and no. I'm only here because those bastards quarantined my entire island and forced me to contain this little "Outbreak". After witnessing what happened at the camp last night, I'm starting to realize why I was brought here." He flashed his blue eyes at the group.

"I just came along to get some action." Said Evaglin suddenly after Akira just finished his explanation. He suddenly face planted on the floor. Evaglin blushed. "Uh, _real _action, not…"

Akira raised a hand. "Just drop it."

"What a bunch of weirdoes…" Lina whispered to Cindy. Cindy just stared confused.

"So, what are you doing here exactly?" Cindy asked.

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but I'm here to take you guys back. So just make my life easier and come with me without things getting rough." He said, looking very bored with the situation.

John planted one foot. "And if we don't?" He asked defiantly.

Akira touched the bridge of his nose again. "Kid, don't start with me. I just had to deal with some…uh," He shot a side glance at Evaglin. "Personal issues and my home company is in a rut right now, so I am NOT in the mood for any crap."

"Well the only way you're gonna get us back is if you go through me." John said pulling out a Pokeball. Cindy shot a glance at John.

"What are you doing?"

Akira looked down just a bit to show his blue eyes and smiled a bit. "Is that a challenge?" His hand reached for his poke belt.

"You bet it is." John said with a smirk.

Cindy walked to John. "You don't have to do this."

John only smiled back at her. "Of course I do. It's in me to do this kind of stuff. Don't worry about me."

He turned back to Akira. "Listen up. This fight's mine."

The two trainers stood across from each other, John on one side, Akira on another.

Akira reached for a ball. "Just to warn you, this may hurt a bit." Akira said. Suddenly he heard a sound and looked to the side.

"One second…" He muttered. A Shroomish with a few bumps on its head popped out of the bushes and jumped at him. "SHROOOM!" It yelled, its mouth aimed to bite him. Akira simply closed his eyes and pulled off a spinning kick that slammed into the weird mushroom pokemon. It sailed into the air and disappeared in a twinkle. Everyone just stared at the awkward moment.

" Little bugger…Sorry about that." He turned his attention back to John.

"I'll go first. Go, Burn!" John threw out his ball and out came Burn, the Infernape beating its chest. "Nape! Infernape!"

"Your move." John said.

Akira closed his eyes, then smiled. "You make this too easy. Go, Pidgeot!" He threw out his ball and out came Pidgeot, the longhaired bird ruffling its feathers before it opened its eyes. It cooed and flapped its wings a bit. Cindy realized the type advantage.

John furrowed his eyes. "Go, Burn! Give it a fire punch! Go now!" The little monkey ran with its fist catching ablaze, its face focused on the large bird. Akira raised an arm.

"Pidgeot! Evade!" The bird flapped its wings and sailed clear of Burn's attack. The Infernape slammed into the ground and turned around to face the airborne Pidgeot.

"Nape!" It cried out in defiance. Akira directed towards Pidgeot. "Alright use Wing attack, now!"

The Pidgeot's wings began to glow and it flapped them downwards, releasing two blades of energy towards Burn. The blades struck the Infernape hard and sent him reeling, but he still got up. "Good work Burn, now use ember!" John cried out.

"Nape!" The flame on its head burned more violently as little embers sailed towards Pidgeot. The bird cringed as its feathers were singed, but it still flew towards Burn.

Akira's eyes sharpened. "Now finish it with a drill peck/Fly attack!" The bird began to spin in a down ward spiral at high velocity, barley giving Burn any chance at all. It struck Burn hard and the Infernape flew through the air before landing KO'd near John.

"Burn! Oh well, you gave it your best shot." He recalled the fire monkey.

"Good shot, but I'm just getting warmed up!" He reached for another ball.

"Go, Sarah!" The ball erupted and out came a Luxray. The black and blue pokemon looked intimidating, its star tipped whip-like tail swayed in the air, its black fur ruffled up.

"Lux! Luxray!" she cried out.

Suddenly, Sarah looked behind her and caught sight of John. She cried out in joy, ran up and tackled him in a playful hug and began to nuzzle her head against him, the pokemon happy to see her master. "Sarah!" John cried out, trying to get the affectionate Luxray off of him who was nuzzling him even more. Everyone just stared at yet another awkward moment. Even the Pidgeot landed and sweat dropped a bit at the sight. You wouldn't think that a pokemon that fierce looking would act that way just by looking at it.

Cindy thought back to her last battle with John and remembered that when Sarah was a Luxio, she used to love rubbing against his leg before going off to battle. _She must really like him…_thought Cindy with a giggle.

Much to the relief of John and everyone else, Sarah stopped her cuddling session and noticed her opponent, the Pidgeot. She jumped off of John and into a battle ready position. John got up.

Akira snickered a bit.

"My, my. Looks like your Luxray is very…fond of you."

John just growled. "Alright Sarah, use a thunderbolt on that Pidgeot, GO!"

"Lux!" She cried as she hunched forward and began to charge up, her black fur crackling with electricity. She got up and released a bolt of lightning towards Pidgeot, the yellow bolt zigzagging its way towards the bird. Akira barely had any time to order Pidgeot to evade the attack, and the thunderbolt hit it fully. The bird began to convulse as bolts of electricity surged through its body. The lightning stopped, and the Pidgeot fainted and fell forward. Akira pulled out his Pokeball and recalled it.

"Nice shot, but try some of this." he reached for another ball.

Evaglin cried from behind him. "Go Akira! Show him whose boss, uh, boss!" Akira face planted again. Cindy smiled. It looks like John isn't the only one who has a partner that is overly affectionate.

Akira got up, regained his composure, and tossed his ball. "Go, Arcanine!" The ball erupted to reveal a _very _large dog pokemon that had orange fur with black stripes. This Arcanine was exceptionally large. _It must be well trained, John better watch out._ Thought Cindy.

Akira thrust his arm forward. "Now Arcanine, use take-down!" The large Arcanine started bounding towards the smaller Luxray.

"Sarah! Evade!" John cried out. Sarah managed to jump out of the way of the large dog pokemon, then jumped again to land on its back. She hung on as tight as she could on the bucking Arcanine. The dog was bumping against many objects to get Sarah off, causing injury to itself. Sarah still hanged on. The dog then hit a nearby tree that crunched into Sarah. She cried out a bit, but hung on. "Sarah!" John cried out, his face worried. He wondered why his pokemon was intent on hanging on, then a thought hit him.

"Sarah, use Discharge!"

The Luxray then began to dispel electricity into Arcanine, near its neck. The energy traveled down the spine to all corners of Arcanine's body. The dog howled in pain before falling down on its side, fainted. Sarah wobbled a bit from using up energy and her injury she sustained from the tree limb, but she still stood. "You did good Sarah, you deserve a rest." John recalled Sarah. "Go Kairi!" He released the ball and out came Kairi.

"Espeon!"

Akira recalled Arcanine.

"You're better than I thought. Impressive." He reached for a ball with designs on it. "But now, playtime…IS OVER!" The ball erupted forward and busted into light. The light from the ball began to take the shape of a fox-like pokemon. Nine tails swayed in the air. When the light cleared, it revealed a blood red colored Ninetales.

"Nine. Ninetales." it said.

_Wow, a shiny Ninetales. _Cindy had never seen a pokemon look so beautiful and frightening at the same time. Even John stared in awe at his new opponent. Lina also stared, her eyes filled with wonder at the beautiful pokemon.

Akira closed his eyes and smiled.

"Are you impressed by Kitsune's beauty? I should warn you, she does more than stun people with her beauty." He clenched his fist. "Kitsune, start off with a flame wheel."

The red Ninetales began to run towards Kairi with flames beginning to surround her. She suddenly leapt into the air and performed a flip, releasing the gathering flames in a wheel.

"Kairi, watch out!' Cried John. Kairi began to run, the flames pursuing her. John was thinking about what to do.

"Kairi, use Psychic!" The Espeon stopped and turned to face the flames. Her eyes glowed blue and the wheel of flames began to disperse in different directions, the flames still flowing forward but avoiding Kairi; she was using the psychic energy to create a penetrating barrier in the center of the flames. Suddenly, Kitsune jumped though the open loop of fire and tackled Kairi. Kairi made a cry as she flew through the air. She landed on her feet though, and turned to face the red Ninetales. Akira still watched with amusement. "Ok Kitsune, finish it with a flamethrower!"

The Ninetales opened her mouth as heat began to burn in her throat. She released a stream of fire and caught Kairi by surprise. The flames engulfed her. When Kitsune closed her mouth, Kairi was still standing very weakly. She let out a quick gasp before she tumbled to the side.

John stared in disbelief. "Grrr, Kairi, return!" He returned her to her ball.

"Well, now do you realize who you're dealing with?" Akira asked.

"I won't back down." John said as he pulled out another ball. "Go, Shadow!"

The ball revealed a wolf-like pokemon with gray fur and a mane of black hair flowing on its back. It growled upon release. "MIGHTYENA!" it bellowed at Kitsune. Cindy didn't remember a Mightyena among John's pokemon the last time they fought. He must have caught it sometime after.

Akira only shrugged. "Oh well, it look like you will never learn."

John only glared. "Shadow, crunch attack now!" The Mightyena rushed towards the shiny Ninetales with its jaws bared. "YENA!" it yelled when it leapt through the air.

Kitsune then shot a flamethrower at the sailing Mightyena and it careened off course. The Mightyena got up again and snarled. _It's acting awfully aggressive…even for an intense fight. _Thought Cindy.

"Don't give up, Shadow! Keep trying!" John cried out. Shadow kept trying to attack Kitsune, but the fox only avoided its efforts. It was playing with him, John realized.

"Shadow, use shadow ball!" The Mightyena opened its mouth and released a ball of concentrated dark energy. The ball flew towards Kitsune. She just stood her ground and sat there as the ball continued its venture towards her. She closed her eyes and the ball stopped. It then dispersed. John stared, his mouth agape.

"What was that?" John asked, trembling.

"Do you honestly think that you could beat Kitsune with a move like that? I keep telling you, you don't know what you're dealing with. Now it's time to end this. Kitsune, flamethrower!" Akira pointed.

Kitsune opened her eyes and released a stream of fire at Shadow. John just watched helplessly as Shadow was hit with the brunt of the blast and slammed into a tree

Akira closed his eyes. "Well, that's that."

John was about to recall Shadow when the Mightyena suddenly got up weakly and ran towards Kitsune. Before the fox can do anything, Shadow bit into her paw.

"Kitsune!" yelled Akira. Cindy and Lina both gasped. John just stared in disbelief.

Shadow tugged and pulled against Kitsune's paw, causing blood to appear. Cindy couldn't notice it until it started dripping on the ground. Kitsune fired another flamethrower in self-defense at the attacking Mightyena. Shadow finally let go and passed out on the ground.

Akira pulled out his ball and recalled Kitsune. John ran up to his passed out companion. "Shadow?" _Is shadow…? _

Shadow disappeared in a stream of light when a round object struck it. John did a quick glance and saw Akira holding a distinct ball with an M on it. _A master ball?_

Cindy noticed the strange apparatus on Akira's arm.

"Is that a snag machine?" Asked Lina.

John stared in disbelief. "A snag machine? Than that means…"

He shot an angry glare at Akira. "YOU BASTARD!" He began running towards Akira with his fist ready. Akira just stood his ground and grabbed John's fist, and did a quick throw that pinned John to the ground. Cindy and Lina both gasped and ran to help John.

Akira still had a stern face. "Listen I had to do it. Your pokemon was infected. It attacked Kitsune, so you better pray that she isn't infected too!" He let go of John. Cindy and Lina helped him up. Akira adjusted his shades. "Listen, your other pokemon should be your main concern. They need attention bad. I hate to admit it but they can't go on without getting looked at."

John only glared, his fist trembling.

"That's why I'm letting you go. There should be a Pokemon center in Mauville that can help you. If I understand, that's your best shot considering what happened in Verdanturf. However, the girls are gonna have to come back with me." Akira said.

Cindy looked at Akira. "Why are you doing this?"

He flashed his blue eyes. "Let's just say I'm cutting your friend a break. If he comes back with me, the unit will take his pokemon and they won't get the proper care they need. I'm not heartless you know."

John looked to Cindy. She nodded. "Go ahead, we'll catch up. Go and help your Pokemon." She said.

John just looked at Akira, then at the girls then turned around. "I'll see you guys there. Be careful." His amber eyes shone with grim determination. He glared at Akira one last time, then started to walk down the road.

"John!"

He turned around. Cindy was there.

"Take care." She said. She suddenly gave him a quick hug, then let him go. He stared at first, then smiled. "I will." He gave a salute and started to walk down the road to Mauville city.

_Take care…John. _ Cindy hoped he got there ok and avoided the virus. She knew the only reason this happened was because of her. _No, that's the way John is, willing to sacrifice for those he cares about…_

"Alright, let's go." Akira said. He gave a look in John's direction. _ There goes a good trainer…Man I hope Kitsune's not infected. _He looked at his ball. The girls started to move with Akira, but Cindy gave one last look as John walked off in the direction of the setting sun.

**A/N; Whew…that must have been my longest chapter yet! This is my first ever battle sequence in anything, so I hope I didn't overdo it. Well, that's the end of John in this arc.**

**John: Aw man. I know what happens next. (Shiny Eevee in thought bubble)**

**Me: Don't worry, I'm writing a one-shot about your experience after this story, so we'll be seeing more of you…just not in this story. **

**John: Oh well. Hey, at least I'll be meeting Missy and the others soon.**

**Me: Anyway, please leave a review. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**


	10. Confrontation

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 10: Confrontation**

**A/N: Ok, we have just seen the end of John's arc and we last left off with Cindy and Lina being taken back by Akira, but will Akira turn them over? Read along to find out. MEE-YAA!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon. Nintendo does (Geeze, sound like a broken record). TurtlesandMonkeys owns the Transformation universe and its virus, and Akira belongs to Lord Nalthren. I DO however own Cindy and Lina and the V.P.C.U.**

Cindy and Lina continued to walk with Akira towards the H.D.C camp at Verdanturf town, Evaglin following closely, a worried look on her face.

"Akira…" She did not know what to say. Akira just walked and stared at his Pokeball with Kitsune in it. His eyes had a grim expression on them.

Lina edged in close to Cindy and whispered to her. "I think we should bail while we got the chance…**"**

Cindy's thoughts drifted to John. _I hope he's all right…_

Lina tried again. "Hello, while there not looking, lets sneak away…"

"I can hear you, you know." Said Akira suddenly. Then Lina turned to him. "Well hear this, we're leaving to go meet our friend John and--"

Evaglin snapped. "Hey, don't talk to him like that!" She said, defending him. This only caused Akira to pinch the bridge of his nose again. _This is not my day…_

Lina only got angrier. "Hey! If I had my pokemon right now I bet I can take you and your boyfriend at once!"

Evaglin fumed. "Oh yeah? I can--" She thought for a sec and turned red. "Boyfriend?"

Akira walked between the two. "Enough!" He turned to Lina. "You, shut the hell up the rest of this trip. That goes for you too, Evaglin."

Both girls groaned at once. "But Akira…" Started Evaglin.

He flashed his blue eyes. "I mean it, Evaglin."

She pouted her mouth a bit then slumped her head.

Cindy stepped forward. "Why are you doing this? Do you _have _to take us back?"

Akira covered his face with his hand in exhaustion and frustration. "_Yes, _I do. I have to drop off this infected pokemon back to the unit to contain it, and I have to take you back because of the risk you all carry for passing this crazy virus around. I would've taken your friend too if I hadn't put his pokemon in critical condition. "

Cindy only protested. "But wouldn't they just take your Ninetales away if they find out she's infected?"

Akira looked like he got punched internally. He looked to the side.

Cindy continued. "Think about it. If John's Mightyena was infected, then so is you're Ninetales. We saw what happens when an infected pokemon bites a tame one."

Lina nodded. "That virus turned my friend Suzie into a monster that bit Nurse Joy."

Akira looked up. "Ah, so the pokemon that attacked Nurse Joy was yours…"

He got serious. "Kitsune's not infected. Even if she was, I _won't _allow those V.P .C bastards to take her away."

Cindy only protested further. "But they will. They'll do it to all of us. They think they're helping, but there not. This isn't the proper way to deal with this."

Akira thought hard, and then his face became stern. He released his Pokeball. The Ninetales came out, its body shuddering. It looked like it was having an internal struggle.

"You see? This virus is trying to take her away." Cindy said.

Akira knelt before Kitsune, inspecting her, his eyes filled with worry. He closed them.

He then got up and began to walk faster, Kitsune weakly following him. Evaglin looked to the trainers, then at Akira, and back again before deciding to follow him. "Akira, wait up!"

--

The group continued on until they reached Verdanturf Town. Evidence of the Unit's presence was there with the lamps on stands illuminating the town. The shouts of angry trainers could be heard.

The group walked up to a checkpoint. Two V.P.C.U. guards showed up to inspect them, but a glare from Akira and a quick look at Kitsune told them to back off. The unit allowed them passage. Cindy looked around and saw two troops carrying a struggling Ampharos coming out of the pokemon center with clamps around its neck so it couldn't bite them. She realized who the Ampharos was and looked down. She also saw the silhouettes of struggling pokemon behind the tents, realizing that they were once human.

"Wait here." Akira said as he walked up to a tent. Cindy wondered what he was going to do.

Suddenly, a loud thud could be heard and a figure stumbled out of the tent, holding his face. Akira walked out, shaking his fist as if warming up for another punch. Cindy and the other girls gasped. Troops began to scramble around the Akira the fallen figure. Cindy saw that it was the blond man from the command tent. Akira grabbed him by the collar. Two troops behind him raised their automatic weapons, but Akira pulled out his own weapon, a 9 mm, and aimed it back at them. The blond man raised his arm.

"Ease down…" He said. Akira kept his glare on him. He brought the man closer to him.

"Listen, Jason, I'm out. I'm done being your lapdog!" His blue eyes burned.

The man, Jason, searched for words. "Look, Akira…"

Akira only lifted his fist and punched him again. He dropped Jason, then dusted off his hands and began to walk away, holstering his weapon. "That was for Omega Island…" He said bitterly. Akira then stopped and tossed the master ball with Shadow in it at the unit.

"Come on, Kitsune." he said and the shiny Ninetales followed weakly. Jason watched this with interest as the man with the shaded visor and red patch helped him up.

"You want me to handle him, commander?" He asked Jason. Jason only wiped the blood off his lip.

"No. Let him go." He said, never taking his eyes off of Kitsune.

Two men were looking at a poke belt when Akira just walked by and grabbed it.

"Excuse me, I'll take this." he said, walking up and taking the belt. He walked up to the girls.

"Here." He said, giving the belt back to Lina. Lina clipped it on. "Thanks." She said.

"All right, there's no reason for you two to stay here, so you can go." He said.

Cindy looked at Kitsune. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

Akira only looked down. "Don't worry about me."

They stood there in silence for a while, then Cindy and Lina began to walk. Cindy turned around. "Thank you, Akira Ryoto."

Akira nodded. "Tell your friend, John, that I'm sorry…"

The two girls nodded, and left the man with his Ninetales.

**A/N: Funny, he's going to be sorry when he finds out what happens to him. Lord Nalthren is handling the fate of Akira and Kitsune in his story, Chronicle of the beholder. (He really doesn't like it when I advertise for him.) So feel free to check that out. Jason Keys was inspired by the character of Peter Keys in the movie **_**Predator 2**_**. Just thought you'd like to know. Anyway, please review. JonseyCat, Out! MEE-YAA!**


	11. Darkest Night

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 11: Darkest night**

**A/N: Oh, I couldn't disguise that chapter, could I? (LOL in a fashion familiar to any DC fans) Enjoy the chapter. MEE-YAA!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys. I DO own Cindy and Lina.**

The two girls continued to walk late into the night towards Mauville. Lina felt the blank spot on her belt, thinking of Suzie. Cindy stopped when she let out a small yawn.

"Let's rest for a moment." She suggested. The girls found a nice resting spot in the forest, making sure no wild pokemon were in the area. Cindy put down her bag and lies down against a tree. She looked up into the night sky. "Hey, Lina?"

Lina looked from her resting spot, on the grass. "Yeah?"

"Do you think this virus thing will ever end?" She asked.

Lina sighed. "I don't know, but I'll bet that there are people who are trying to stop it, like that scientist on TV. I try not to think about those kind of things."

She stretched.

"It's always the darkest before the dawn, and the dawn is coming…" She yawned.

Cindy smiled. "Wow, did you come up with that?"

Lina turned and closed her eyes in a smile. "No, I heard it in a movie somewhere."

--

There was darkness everywhere, darkness, like the inside of a cave.

Cindy was running, panting, a fearful expression on her face. There was a horrible chittering behind her. She saw the light at the end of the cave and began to dash towards it. She saw something at the end. As she got closer, she saw that it was a silver shiny Eevee. It had amber eyes.

_John?_

The Eevee turned away and the cave began to close. Cindy reached an arm forward.

"John! John, help!" She cried out. The Eevee continued to walk away and the cave sealed. Cindy turned around to face the horror.

There was a boy there, a predatory gaze in his eyes. Claws sprouted from his outstretched limbs and a red feather sprouted from his head. Cindy watched in horror, as he became a Sneasle the closer he got before her eyes. She heard a cry and turned and saw Nurse Joy, holding her arm as her skin turned yellow and stripes formed on her neck. Her neck stretched out and a red ball formed on her forehead and a tail sprouted. She became an Ampharos and began walking towards Cindy, rage in the yellow Pokemon's eyes.

She cried out and began to run in another direction. She stopped when she saw Lina on the floor, clutching herself and screaming out loud. _Lina…_She thought as she watched her friend change before her eyes. _Not you too!_

. Lina cried out as her brown hair caught ablaze and was set on fire. Her skin turned a creamy color as her fingernails grew out and merged and turned black to become hooves. Her shorts caught ablaze as a fiery tail sprouted from her butt area. Her legs cracked as her shoes tore to reveal her hoofed feet. She fell forward on her hooves as her neck became thicker and her nose and mouth bulged out to become a horse's snout. Her hazel eyes became black as her ears moved to the top of her head.

The Ponyta/Lina began to turn and run off into the darkness, Cindy reaching out for her. "Lina! Lina, come back!" She cried out, tears coming to her eyes.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pinch on her neck and felt flapping wings near her head.

She turned and saw a Zubat. Her eyes widened.

_No! NO!_

She felt pain shoot through all her body and she screamed. Her arms and fingers began to bend as her fingers spread out and merged to become bat wings. Her skin turned dark blue as the inner part of her leathery wings turned purple. Her feet began to shrink back into her legs as they began to grow thinner and thinner and grow back into her body. Her legs became the thin streamers that Zubat had while her body became smaller. Her blond hair fell out as her ears became pointed and moved to the side of her head. Her screaming mouth suddenly stretched wide and wouldn't close as all her teeth except for her incisors shrank back into her gums. Her remaining teeth became fangs while her nose shrank back into her face. She felt her skin cover her eyes and soon she couldn't see anything except darkness. Her screaming altered itself into a bat screech. Her mind screamed and screamed. She had no more eyes to cry, yet she still saw the darkness. She heard more fluttering and felt wings beat against her as more Zubat began to swarm around her and sweep her away. She screamed as she was swept away by the current of Zubat. She saw a Zubat in her mind flying with other Zubat and she realized that the one flying through the darkness was her. She only screamed and screamed.

_No! NO! NO!_

--

"Cindy! Cindy!"

Cindy still had her eyes closed tightly as she felt tears streaming, her body still twisting and turning. "No! No! No!"

"Cindy, wake up! You're having a bad dream!"

Cindy felt a reassuring hand shake her shoulders. She still clenched her eyes tightly. _I have no eyes! I can't see! I'm a Zubat! I'm a Zubat! I'm…_

A slap hit her face. Cindy opened her eyes. She saw Lina there.

"Sorry about that, it's the only thing I could think of." She said.

Cindy only felt more tears well up and she hugged her tightly. "Oh Lina! It was horrible! The Zubat got me! It bit me and I became one! You turned into a Ponyta and ran off and I saw John- he was an Eevee and-and…!" She just continued to cry.

Lina only began to stroke the back of Cindy's head, making motherly hush sounds. "Shh, shh, it's all right. You just had a bad nightmare."

Cindy still sniffled in Lina's arms, still reliving the horrible images in her head.

"I….I was a Zubat…John, he couldn't, couldn't help me…." She whimpered.

The two girls still hugged each other tightly, the night sky was extremely dark, the corners of dawn approaching.

_The night is darkest just before the dawn…_

Cindy still hugged Lina tightly, her thoughts drifting to her other friend, John, and to the people this virus has already hurt.

…_but the dawn is coming._

**A/N: This was a nightmare scene that was written in the tradition of "Surreal" from **_**Ancient Society. **_**The thought of Cindy becoming a Zubat just wouldn't leave me and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to explore that. Oh, there's possibly a hint of what's to come hidden in there. I'm pretty sure that people can identify the movie that Lina was referring to, but just incase, **_**"Why…so…SERIOUS?"**_**XD**_**LOL!**_

**Anyways, please leave your reviews. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**


	12. Epicenter: Mauville

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 12: Epicenter: Mauville**

**A/N: Hey, I'm back, and I'm ready to rollout! XD. I got a good idea of where I want to go with this story and would like to thank my readers for their continuous support, because its readers like you that give most of us authors the motivation we need. (I know this doesn't apply to some authors, but you know what I mean.)**

**We last left Cindy with an awful nightmare scene written in the style of Surreal from TF:II and she caught a glimpse of an Eevee that might be her friend John…**

**So, what will Cindy and Lina find when they reach Mauville? Stick around to find out! CHIKA! CHIKORI!**

**On a side note, I have just finished reading one of the few pokemon fanfics that broke my heart. It is called Fractured Bond by Darkpokemon lover, and that story left me with an emotional groove that gave me a breathless feeling I have not felt since witnessing the power of The Dark Knight or the end of Ancient Society by our good friend TurtlesandMonkeys. It also made me cry along the way. I suggest you bring a box of tissues if you decide to check it out. (I should have, especially since I listened to it with **_**Watch the world burn, **_**and **_**A Dark Knight.) **_** Ok, (sniff), back to the story. **

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon. That belongs to Nintendo. I also do not own the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys; I'm only borrowing it with permission.**_** I DO **_**own Lina and Cindy however. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**

Dawn was approaching. Cindy watched as the curtain of dawn arrived to bathe the day with morning light. She held her knees close to her in her sitting position. She was still frightened by the horrible images she witnessed in her dream, the Zubat, Lina, all of it.

She looked and saw Lina, still sleeping. Cindy shuddered when she remembered what happened to Lina in her dream. She thought back to the words she told her. "_It's always darkest before the dawn, but the dawn is coming…"_

Her thoughts drifted to the meaning of the silver Eevee in her dream. She didn't know how, but she knew that the Eevee was John. _What if the virus got him?_

She shook her head._ No, he has to be all right…he just has to…_

The silver Eevee bothered her. _It had his eyes…_

Taking her mind off of the subject, she looked to her poke belt, pulled out one ball and released it. Quilava shook its head before turning to see Cindy and smiled.

"Quilava!" It cried joyfully. Cindy smiled and hugged it. She still thought of John a bit.

Lina stretched and cricked her neck and saw the pair hugging. She smiled.

"Morning." She said.

Cindy turned to Lina. "Good morning Lina."

"Quilava, Quil." The little pokemon chirped from Cindy's arms.

Lina got up and began to walk to Cindy, her hands stretched behind her head.

"You all right?" She asked with a concerned smile. Cindy looked to the side but nodded.

Lina's s smile turned upside down. "Hmm, your still thinking about last night, are you?"

Cindy closed her eyes. "Lina, I think something terrible has happened. That dream felt so real…it has to mean something."

Lina cocked her head to the side. "Well, at least it was just a dream. Come on, let's get moving to Mauville." She slung her bag over her shoulder.

Cindy nodded and pulled out her ball. "Ok Quilava, time to go." She recalled the little fire shrew and slung her backpack on. She and Lina began to walk. Lina noticed Cindy's concerned expression and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. I bet you that when we get there, John will have his pokemon all better and might've even already won a badge to show off." They began to laugh, but deep inside, Cindy still worried. _Let's hope you're right…_

_--_

The girls continued to walk down the road, sharing adventures of their pokemon training over the years. It was all Cindy could do not to think about her concern for John or her dream.

"…So this guy whips out a Slugma thinking that it could beat Lily, and I'm like "Oh crap!" and tell her to use a razor leaf attack right away and by sheer luck it caught the snail by surprise!" Lina closed her eyes as she laughed and finished her story. Cindy smiled.

"Wow, that's amazing. I wonder how a battle between us would turn out…"

Lina's eyes glimmered for a sec. She held her chin and looked to the sky.

"Hmm, that would be something…" She snapped her fingers. "Tell you what, we find out once we get to Mauville and meet up with John."

"I don't know." Cindy said with a little uncertainty. She began to blush.

Lina saw this and smiled. "Cindy Richards, are you blushing?"

Cindy's eyes widened and she looked away. "What? No, I…I…"

Lina shot a sly look at her. "Cindy, Cindy, either you're embarrassed to challenge me or…" Her face sparked in realization. She pointed at Cindy. "You like John!"

Cindy's face flushed. "What? No! I…I…" She turned red. Lina giggled. "I knew there was something between you two when I saw you together. I saw what you did before he left." She waggled her finger.

Cindy began to stutter. "T-That was just… I…"

Cindy looked to the side. "That hug was just for luck…I just hope he got there all right…"

Lina patted her back. "It's ok…we all go through it at one point."

Cindy turned to Lina. "Have you?"

Lina stopped laughing and face faulted.

"Uh, well…. I… DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOOK!!"

--

Cindy continued down the road, thinking about what Lina had said earlier, about her and John._ Sure I like him, but do I really l…_

She blushed.

Lina saw this and suppressed a chuckle. Cindy gave her a look and she stopped chuckling.

_I wonder if he had any feelings for me…he defended me…he tried to comfort me…I worry about him…maybe Lina is right…maybe I'll ask him…_

Her thoughts were interrupted when her foot struck something. She looked down. It was a Pokeball.

"Huh? Stop!" Cindy cried out and Lina stopped. "What is it?"

Cindy bent down and picked up the ball, a look of worry on her face._ What if… _

A million thoughts floated in her head, John appearing in most of them. Cindy opened the ball and the light began to take the shape of a pokemon.

"Lux…Luxray…"

Cindy's eyes widened. It was Sarah, John's Luxray, still struggling to stand. The Luxray grimaced as she tried to stand and began to look around, looking for her master. Her look was growing more frantic when she couldn't see him anywhere. "Lux? Lux? Lux!" She cried out, looking frantically for John.

"Isn't that John's Luxray?" Lina asked. Cindy kept her gaze on Sarah, pitying the pokemon, then her thoughts drifted to John. _Something happened to him. _

"She looks like she's in pretty bad shape." Lina noted. "Why would John leave her out here like this?"

Cindy picked up Sarah in her arms, the Luxray resisting a little bit but was too weak to break free. Cindy stroked her back. "John didn't do this on purpose. Something happened to him." Cindy said, a look of concern both for John and Sarah. She looked around but couldn't find any other sign of him.

She put on a look of determination and picked up Sarah's ball, recalling the Luxray.

"Come on, we have to get to the city. It's just around the corner." She began to jog, Lina following her.

--

Cindy continued to run until she saw a sign.

_Welcome to Mauville City: The bright and shiny city of fun!_

Cindy closed her eyes and sighed in relief. _We made it. We…_

She looked around. There were no troops or any sign of the V.P.C.U. In fact there was no sign of anyone. No one.

Lina barely caught up with Cindy. She too looked around. "That's weird, where is everybody?"

Cindy looked around. "I don't know."

There was no one on the streets. A light breeze howled through the vacant streets, further amplifying the eeriness of the situation. Cindy began to walk forward, her eyes drifting across the empty scenery. She looked inside the windows and saw no one. Some lights were still on. Everywhere the girls looked, there was no sign of life anywhere, human or otherwise. In some places, doors and windows were left open. The sound of a swinging door banged through the air, the wind pushing it. Several window covers did the same. A Television set was still on in one place, static playing on the screen. Some places had items on the floor, as if the person dropped it in the middle of use. They passed by the police station, peering inside the open door way.

"Hello?!" Lina called inside. There was no response. A radio still cracked with static.

It was getting creepier and creepier the more they walked down the city streets, seeing no sign of any life whatsoever.

Mauville was a ghost city.

"The entire town has disappeared." Cindy said. Lina looked at her.

"You don't think the virus got _everyone_, do you?"

Cindy shook her head. "I don't know. I sure hope not."

Lina's face snapped. "Oh man! I sure hope Umi and Maku are all right."

Cindy closed her eyes. _This has something to do with what happened to John…_

She hoped that he missed what ever happened here, but she doubted it.

"Come on, lets go to the pokemon center." Cindy said. "We still got to help Sarah."

"Sorry, but chances are that Nurse Joy isn't there." Lina added.

Cindy thought about it and closed her eyes. _She's right, but I still have to help Sarah…I owe that much to John…_

A sound shook Cindy from her thoughts. She looked around. _Maybe there's still someone here!_

She began to move, but then a thought struck her. _What if it's the unit, or worse, it could be some viral pokemon…_

Still she took a chance and began to move forward.

Lina looked up. "Cindy, wait up!"

She followed her friend deeper into the city.

**--**

**There's the end of that one! About Cindy's thoughts for John: I decided to hint that maybe Cindy had feelings for him and Swack seemed to support the idea. He even sent a PM with evidence supporting that maybe John wasn't interested in Mary in Ancient Society and that Mary had feelings for Chad. (She did, in chapter six and at the end of the first story) I still don't know about John's stance on Mary, but Cindy definitely has feelings for John. (In chapter 9 of Ancient Society, it said that Mary was starting to like John more and more and I like to think that her time with Eevee John plus the time she spent with him after he was cured amounted to something, especially considering what happened to them in the end) Finding Sarah was a way for Cindy to find out that something horrible happened. Also, I thought that it would be wrong to leave Sarah with the society. (Read Darkest before Dawn for more info). So the girls are in Mauville. What could that sound be? **

**Anyway, please leave a review. JonseyCat, Out! MEE-YAA! **


	13. Survivors

Transformation: Quarantine

**Transformation: Quarantine.**

**Chapter 13: Survivors?**

**A/N: Here's another installment for all you faithful reader out there. Cindy and Lina had just arrived to Mauville after finding Sarah on the road and the whole town was deserted. Cindy heard a sound and proceeds to investigate it…**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon. That belongs to Nintendo. The Transformation universe and its characters belong to TurtlesandMonkeys. I DO however own Cindy and Lina. MEE-YAA!**

Cindy andLina continued to run down the streets of the empty town. They soon came around a corner and looked around. There was nothing there. Both of them panted.

"Man, I was sure I heard something…" Cindysaid looking around.

Lina began to recognize the area. "Hey, I know this place."

Cindy looked at her. "You do?"

Lina nodded. "Yeah, Umi and Maku live around here. Their apartment complex is on the third floor of the building over there." She pointed at a 3-story building.

"I'm going to go check it out." Lina said and began to dash for the building. Cindy reached an arm out at her. "Lina! Wait!" She began to run after her.

Lina came to the front of the complex and knocked on the door. There was no answer. She frowned and opened the door and walked inside. She looked around the hallway and looked in the first room. No one was there. She began to run upstairs.

Cindy barely reached the doorway when Lina began running to the next floor. "Lina, slow down!" She cried out. _Why is she moving so fast? _Then a thought struck Cindy and she realized why Lina was acting like this. The virus had already claimed two friends of Lina already: The boy with the Sneasle and Suzie her companion. _Lina probably couldn't stand to lose two more friends…_

Lina searched the second floor and found no sign of anybody there. Her anxiety and frustration began to grow. _No, there has to be somebody…they HAVE to be all right…_

Cindy caught up with Lina as she finished her search. She saw Lina's face of determination. "One more floor…" She said and began to run up the stairs. Cindy followed this time.

Lina ran upstairs and got to the hall way and saw the door was opened. Her eyes widened. Gritting her teeth she ran inside.

The small living room was in disarray, with a lamp over turned and several chairs on their side. She ran to the small kitchen and saw that no one was there. There was a small pot with some ramen sticking out. Some plates lay shattered on the floor. It looked like whatever happened caught everyone by surprise. _No…they have to be all right…_

She began to search the bedrooms.

Cindy walked in and noticed the state of the room. She walked around and saw a broken picture frame on the ground. She bent down to pick it up. It was a picture of a family. An 11 year-old Umi was standing next to Maku, who looked around 4 at the time. Behind them was a man with spiky blue hair hugging a woman with short light blue hair. They were all standing in front of the entrance of what looked like the entrance to an amusement park, large smiles on the children's faces.

She closed her eyes. _I hope they're alright…_

She walked around when her foot hit something. She looked down and saw the open laptop on sleep mode. _That must be Maku's… _

Lina came back and had a defeated look on her face, her eyes starting to fill up with tears.

"I…I couldn't find them…they're gone…" She began to sniff back some tears. Cindy walked up and hugged the sad girl."Don't worry, everything's going to be all right."

_Poor Lina…_ thought Cindy.

Suddenly, a noise caught their attention. They both turned. Lina looked up, a desperate hope in her eyes.

"Umi? Maku?" She began to head toward the sound.

She went to one of the bedrooms and heard the scuffling noise again in the sliding door closet. Cindy came and pulled out a Pokeball, just incase .She nodded.

Lina nodded and pulled the door open.

"Ah! Don't hurt us!" A girl with light blue-hair raised an arm to cover her face from the sudden rush of light, her other arm holding something.

Lina smiled. "Umi!"

Umi blinked. "Lina?"

Lina grabbed her by the arm and began to pull her up but slowed down when she saw what was in her other hand.

In her other hand was a sleeping Pichu with glasses on its head.

"Is that…?" Lina began to ask.

Umi looked down with a sad look. "Yes… it's Maku. The virus got him."

Lina stood there taking in this new development.

Cindy walked up. "Come, have a seat."

Lina helped escort the girl with the Pichu in her arm into the living room. Cindy has some courage to ask her what happened.

Umi took a breath. "Well, after you called, Maku began looking up the stuff you asked for and I helped him. Our parents were in the other room cooking when some kids came in and attacked them. I think they took them into the forest…" She trailed off.

Cindy stared. "What did you do?"

"We heard them attack our parents and I told Maku to hide. I looked and saw some of the kids tying up mom… they began to search our rooms. Me and Maku hid in the closet while they searched. Pichu was out there. I don't know what they did to it, but after they left, we went to check outside when Pichu came and bit Maku and ran away. It must have been near midnight because after Pichu bit him, he began to…to..." She began to tear up reliving the night before. Lina patted her back.

"It's all right. Everything is going to be all right."

Umi began to sniffle some more. "I don't know what happened to my parents…and Maku's a pokemon…I don't know what to do…"

Lina then hugged the sniffling girl and began to shed a few tears of her own.

Cindy joined in as well. _Poor Umi, poor Maku… _

She looked at the sleeping Pichu and wondered what kind of torment the boy must be going through. It was torturous enough for Umi.

"Umi, I hope you don't mind me asking, but were you bitten?" Cindy asked. Umi looked up and shook her head. "No…"

Cindy thought for a moment. "We need to get out of here. We should head for Fortree and from there head to Lilycove."

Umi looked up. "But what about my brother? We can't just leave him like this."

She looked to the sleeping Pichu in her arms.

Lina looked to Cindy. "Let's not be too hasty here. We could probably find an answer in the information Maku was looking up. You have his laptop, right?" Cindy turned and picked it up. "Right." She turned to Umi. "Is it Ok if we look at the stuff inside?"

Umi nodded. "Sure…it was found for you anyway…anything to help my little brother…" She hugged the Pichu closer to her.

Cindy nodded. "Ok, here we go."

She looked at the battery level. "Hmm, seems kind of low."

Umi pointed to a wall. "We left the charger over there."

Cindy nodded and walked over and plugged the cable into the laptop. She opened it and tapped a key to take it out of sleep mode. Umi and Lina got behind her.

"Hmmm, let's see what we have here..."

"_The Viral pokemon containment unit is a subdivision of the Hoenn Defense Corps tasked with the containment of the newly discovered "Pokemon Transformation virus". They operate from town to town and perform necessary containment measures to ensure that the virus does not breach out of Hoenn. They occasionally jump from hotspot to hotspot, isolating any carriers of the virus and detaining them from the public. Their jurisdiction extends in cooperation from the Hoenn national guard, the Hoenn police force, the Hoenn institution of Science, and other local organizations with in the jurisdiction of the Hoenn Defense Corps." _

Cindy scrolled down some more, looking for anything that might be important.

"_Jason S. Keys_

_Classified information._

_Known history with Hoenn institute of Science and technology." _

Other information on the subject was classified.

Cindy sighed and looked around some more. She saw the window connecting to a link that said "Conference". _That might be something… _She moved to click it.

It opened up a small play window. Cindy pressed play and enlarged the video so they could all see it.

There was a purple haired woman behind a podium. She looked a bit nervous at first, but soon cleared her throat and the audience fell silent.

"Good morning, everyone. I'm here to announce a new discovery that me, my husband, and a few friends of ours have discovered. I'm sorry that they couldn't be here with me, it's a long story that I will get to in a short time. "

Cindy saw the moment of sadness in the woman's eyes before she continued.

"We have discovered a new virus inside pokemon; a new cell form taking shape in all pokemon everywhere is making them aggressive and willing to attack humans. We have also discovered the horrifying results if the virus enters our human bodies. This cell, once inside the body, will multiply itself by the millions and spread through the body in a matter of minutes. We still haven't discovered how, but we came to a conclusion as to why.

Well, once it replicates itself by the millions, it attacks what DNA we have, replacing it with Pokemon DNA. So far, most observations have shown that this takes at least twenty-four hours, and upon midnight of being bitten, a gruesome change occurs to our bodies."

Her face grew stern.

"At exactly midnight, our bodies change into a Pokemon. I've seen this happen to one of my friends once. Our bodies change shape, and grow new things: fur, wings, claws, horns. This virus attacks humans. It's a smart virus, and it's out to destroy our race."

Cindy took this all in. _A smart virus…midnight…how can we stop it?_

"We have discovered some humans that became pokemon. Sadly, they were captured by other Pokemon to who knows where, but these humans who became Pokemon still have their humanity in them. The virus didn't attack them fully, leaving them with their human mind. People who usually change loose every once of their humanity, making them loose their minds and become pokemon fully."

Cindy thought about Ken, the boy with the Sneasle, and remembered how she saw his humanity disappeared. Still there was hope. _I hope Maku still has his mind…_

"We have also discovered cure for this virus to be stopped. I will be in a clinic here at Lilycove and will open clinics in every town starting now. Once you're bitten by a pokemon, it doesn't matter what it is or if it's your friend, abandon it right away and head towards the clinic so we can give you a cure for this virus, and stop the transformation on your bodies."

Umi looked at Maku. "What if it's too late and you're already transformed? Is there a cure for that?"

Cindy shrugged. "I don't know."

She turned her attention back to the screen when she noticed something strange.

Cindy couldn't place it, but she thought she saw some sort of jump in the woman's position.

"…That will stop the virus, so maybe we can save ourselves from becoming Pokemon."

The woman turned and stepped away from the podium as she walked away for the people to take in this new information. The video stopped right there.

Lina thought for a sec. "Hold on. Did you notice anything strange about that video?"

Cindy thought about the sudden jump, as if a time-lapse occurred. She looked at the Website.

"Hey, look here. It says that the video was taken from the Hoenn Defense Corps archives. I wonder if…" Cindy began to fiddle with the computer and search for any other websites with the video.

"What are you doing?" Umi asked.

"I think that video was doctored. It seemed like something was missing. Lina, when you saw the special on this, did you see anything different?"

Lina thought for a moment. "Um, it seemed the same to me."

"Was it a live video feed?" Cindy asked.

Lina thought again. "Uh, actually, I think it was aired a few hours after the live version. They showed that broadcast all over the place."

Cindy cursed under her breath. "Just as I thought. Hold on, I think I found it."

She clicked and played a low quality version of the same video. It was the same as the other one, but Cindy kept her eyes out for the moment when the time-skip occurred in the other one. The scientist got to the part with the cure.

"The cure is, in fact, injecting yourself with other human DNA from another person, someone who isn't infected with the virus. That will stop the virus, so maybe we could save ourselves form becoming pokemon." The video stopped. She saw that this was from an amateur cameraman who submitted it after the government one was aired.

Cindy thought about it for a second. _If they're trying to help, why would the unit keep information from the public? It doesn't make any sense…_

Still it could be worse. They could have kept the whole virus thing a secret. She looked at the scientist and looked around to find a name. _Sherice…_

Cindy closed the laptop and got up. "All right, lets get out of here. We're going to Lilly cove to find this scientist, Sherice, cure Maku, and get out of Hoenn. At least we know there's a cure for this".

Lina and Umi nodded. "Let me get us some supplies first." Umi went into the kitchen and began putting some food in a bag. She took out some canteens her family used on camping trips and filled them with water. She looked at Maku, who was still sleeping peacefully. A thought came to her.

"I just thought of something. Maybe we can test the cure on Maku to see if it works."

Cindy looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean if the scientist is right, then maybe we can cure him now."

Cindy thought about it for a moment. "Ok how are we going to test it out?"

Lina raised her hand in suggestion. "The scientist said that human DNA injected in the bloodstream stops the virus, right? So, if we inject some DNA from us, the cure might work on Maku."

"I think we could get DNA him with a syringe. I've seen some at the pokemon center." Umi suggested.

Cindy picked up her bag and looked at her Pokeball with Sarah in it, then at the sleeping Pichu who was Maku. She nodded.

"All right, let's do it."

Umi went into the bedroom and came out with some of Maku's clothes and put them in a bag. It took Cindy and Lina a while to figure out why, then they understood.

Umi scooped up the Pichu that was once her brother and cradled it in her arms and began to walk with Cindy and Lina towards the pokemon center.

**--**

_**Conference from "Transformation" originally written by TurtlesandMonkeys. Transformation, Chapter 12: The Conference.**_

**A/N:Ok, so that's the end of that chapter! I always wondered why people in the series had little knowledge of the cure in some areas and I thought I could explain it in this chapter that the H.D.C for some odd reason left out the part about what the cure exactly was. Also, Umi's question about what if a person was already transformed was probably a question that many people had. Sherice only explained on prevention, but according to the last chapter in Transformation, Sherice said that Missy was the first person to be given the cure in pokemon form and the cure reversed it, so maybe people didn't know that the cure also reverses the transformation. I'm also glad that Cindy and Lina know about Sherice now. On a side note, in the ancient society timeline, Missy and Co. are now entering the village with the priest. Anyway, please leave a review. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**


	14. Cured and Reunion

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 14: Cured and reunion**

**A/N: I'm so proud of my readers for supporting me this far! (Sniff). This story has officially reached the full length of the original Transformation story, and might even get up to the length of Ancient Society. Only time will tell though. Anyways, here's another chapter. Enjoy! MEE-YAA!**

Cindy and the rest got downstairs and made their way towards the pokemon center. Umi looked around as they walked, her face with an expression of disbelief. "Is the whole town…?" She asked.

Cindy shrugged. "We don't know. We hope there's someone else, but…" She looked to the side. "We should hurry on to the pokemon center."

"Right." Umi nodded.

They continued to walk down the empty streets, the eerie breeze becoming more unsettling with each moment. Umi began to hum a tune and gently rocked the Pichu/Maku in her arms. She noticed Cindy watching with curiosity.

"It's a lullaby that my mom used to sing to us. I just need something to take me away from all this. But I look at Maku and…" She trailed off a bit, then resumed her humming. Cindy understood. Lina tried to keep an optimistic expression, but the emptiness of the town still prevailed. Cindy was in deep thought about all this. _What could have done this? Why isn't the unit here? Could they be responsible? _ Then she thought about Umi's story. _She said a bunch of kids attacked. Kids? Why would they attack? And how did they manage to capture a whole city? _She thought about Sarah, which made her think of John._ What if these same people attacked him? _ There might be something else to worry about besides the H.D.C. and viral pokemon…

-0-

"Well, we're finally here." Lina said. Umi took no time getting through the door. The center wasn't trashed, but once again there was an absence of any life present. Cindy looked around. _Nurse Joy is gone too? _She began to feel sorry for the Joy family. _They already lost one sister in Verdanturf town…I wonder how long they would have to suffer under this virus…_ She thought about Umi's family, also taken away by the virus. Umi doesn't even know what happened to her parents. Ken probably had a family too… and John…and any one else hurt by the virus. Her thoughts drifted to her own mother in New Bark town, probably worried sick about her. _As if she didn't have enough things to worry about me, now this virus comes along. _She closed her eyes. _Mom, please be safe…_

"I found thesyringe!' Lina cried from the back. She came back with it in her hand.

Umi's face lit up, "Great! Now-" She caught her self and lowered her volume in front of her brother. "Now let's see if the cure works." She whispered. She took the syringe from Lina.

Cindy watched with interest as Umi placed Maku on a counter for examining pokemon.

"Ok, who's gonna be the one to do it?" Umi asked. Lina put one hand behind her head and shook the other one. "Sorry, I…" She stuttered and blushed. "I kind of have this…um…ever since I was 5... I…" Cindy realized that Lina was afraid of needles. She held her arm out. "It's Ok Lina, I got this one covered." Cindy said to her friend. Lina sighed in relief and began bowing up and down. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!"

Umi put the syringe in Cindy's arm. It stung a little and Cindy bit her lip and winced.

"Sorry…my first time with these." Umi said. Cindy nodded. "It's ok."

She began to extract blood from Cindy and took the needle out. She had a tissue near by and put it on Cindy's puncture spot. She then took the syringe to her brother.

"Let's hope this works." Umi said, uttering a prayer in her mind. She was about to stick the needle in when she thought of something, then left the room for a bit to look for something. Cindy and Lina looked at where she was going. She came back with a large white blanket. The girls understood. She rested the Pichu on its back, then she tucked the blanket around the Pichu, its head sticking out from the covers. She looked to the girls who nodded then she stuck it gently into the Pichu's neck. It flinched a bit but stayed in its slumber. She flinched internally, but resumed the procedure and pushed the blood into the little Pichu. She took out the syringe and wiped it, and looked at her brother.

The little Pichu began to change. It seemed to be growing a little as spiky blue hair started growing on its head. Its ears began to shrink until they reached their usual position and human size. The Pichu's nose turned back into a human nose as its yellow fur disappeared leaving human skin underneath. Its arms began to grow back to their normal size. One of them slipped out of the covers and they could see the fingers sprouting back to their original length. The legs grew back to their size and his feet returned to normal. The last thing left was the cheeks. Maku looked like him self except for the cheeks, which began to fade away and disappeared. Umi couldn't contain her joy.

Maku was back to normal.

Cindy and Lina smiled. The cure worked. Umi walked up to her brother has he began to stir and wake up. He groaned and slowly opened his green eyes. He could barely make out his sister's shape. She put his glasses on him and he could see that her eyes were filled with tear of joy. "Umi…?"He said weakly, holding his head.

"Maku…" She said, tearfully smiling. She hugged her brother tightly.

Lina and Cindy watched as they hugged each other. Lina put her arm to her eyes. "Damn, its moments like these that make me want to…" She began to cry along with Umi. Cindy only smiled, then she remembered Sarah.

"Um, I'm gonna find something to help Sarah." She said, then began to walk towards the emergency part of the center.

Umi and Maku still hugged. "Umi…what happened?" He asked. "I remember Pichu and…then everything started to hurt." He weakly said.

"You're all right now…the virus got you but you're all right now…" Umi said.

Lina scratched the back of her head. "Uh, I'm gonna go in the back and see if Cindy need's help." She turned and left the brother and sister alone.

"I brought you some clothes." Umi said, placing them next to Maku. "Thanks…" He said. "What about mom and dad?" He asked. Umi looked to the side and didn't know what to tell him. _Do I lie to him or do I tell him the truth?_

"I…don't know…they were taken away." Maku just stared and began to stare at the ceiling, thoughts racing in his head. "I'm gonna let you get dressed now." She said getting up. She then looked at him with a determined face. "I swear, I'm not gonna let it happen to you again…"

She turned and left Maku alone in the room to let him get dressed. He still thought about what Umi said.

-0-

Cindy took Sarah out and placed her in a machine. She looked around, searching for what to do next. The Luxray laid there weakly.

_Ok, how do I work this thing? _

"Hey there. Need any help?" She gasped and turned around to see Lina.

"Sorry I startled you. I gotta stop doing that." She said rolling her eyes.

"Do you know haw to work one of these things?" She asked her friend. Lina shrugged.

"Sorry…"

Cindy looked back to Sarah. "Well, I bet you that computer has something to do with it." She went over to the control consol and turned it on. Several icons glowed before a main menu appeared.

"I think it's supposed to be automated. It looks like Nurse Joy must have turned it off before the attack." Cindy said staring at it.

"Now how do I…?" She clicked something and the machine started to come to life as a glass door flipped down and contained Sarah in the machine. There was a needle on standby. A scanner zoomed over Sarah and read her condition, then robotic devices came down and attached sensors. The needle came down and went into Sarah. She had a surprised expression on her face before falling asleep. The machine attached an IV unit to the sleeping pokemon and began to monitor her condition.

Cindy sighed in relief. "All right, now we wait for a few hours until she's better."

She looked up to the sky.

_John, Sarah's going to be all right…stay safe, wherever you are…_

The girls stood by the machine's side, watching the pokemon inside. They did not know it, but the Luxray was thinking about her former master, praying for his safety too.

-0-

**Ok, that's the end of that one. Cure scenes are just as interesting to write as transformations are. ** **The lullaby was a sort of reference to** **the pokemon movie Jirachi the wish-maker. I do not know how exactly a pokemon gets healed, but I thought back to Missy's situations in the original series and went from there. So Maku and Umi are reunited but they are still a family torn apart. I thought I would bring the concept of worried families into perspective and wrote that rumination with Cindy, so I hope I accomplished that. Oh, and by the way, I would like to take this time to ask for any transformation request in future chapters. I just want to know what my readers want. I might use them in this story or in Ancient Society: Ascension. Just name the pokemon in a review or PM me with a request. Anyway, please leave a review. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**__


	15. Departure

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 15: Departure**

**A/N: Hello! I'm back! I still would like to hear from you all about transformation request. Just name the pokemon in a review or PM me with the request. I might use them in this story or Ancient Society: Ascension. Anyway, even though it's a short chapter, enjoy! MEE-YAA! **

**Disclaimer (oops, forgot this in the last chapter.): I do NOT own pokemon, Nintendo does. I also do not own the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys; that belongs to her. I **_**do **_**own Cindy and Lina.**

He was there…there in the moonlight, the silver beams making his fur glow. His amber eyes shone with determination. _John…_

Cindy stirred and opened her eyes. She must have fallen asleep while waiting by Sarah for her to recover. She looked outside and saw that it was getting dark. She looked at the Luxray through the glass window and let out a sigh. _John…what happened to you?_

She heard the door creak. She turned around and saw Maku there, fully dressed and human again. He had blue shorts and a sailor shirt with a red bow tie. He pushed his glasses up and smiled sheepishly. "Hi." He said.

Cindy turned to him. "Hey, how're you feeling?" She asked the blue-haired boy.

He scratched the back of his head and looked to the side." Well, better I guess. I hear you're the one who helped cured me. I just wanted to say thank you."

"You're welcome." She looked back to Sarah. Maku walked up by her to look at Sarah. "Is she yours?"

Cindy closed her eyes. "No, I'm taking care of her for…a friend."

Maku nodded. "Well, she'll be ok with you."

"That information you found for us really helped." Cindy said.

Maku smiled_. _"It was nothing." He then had a concerned look. "I still wonder what happened to mom and dad..." He began to close his eyes as tears began to well. Cindy gave him a gentle hug. "Don't worry. I'm sure that there fine wherever they are."

He looked at her. "How can you know? How can you be sure?"

Cindy looked to the side. _How can I know? How can I know if his parents, John…if anyone is ok? _She only looked to the moonlight, comforting the sniffling boy. She thought she heard a sound; a haunting mournful cry from far away. She didn't know if it was real or imagined, but pretty soon she joined Maku in the silent cascade of tears.

_-0-_

"Okay, let's get moving!" Lina said.

It was the next day. They had spent the night before in the center waiting for Sarah to recover. Sarah walked by wobbly but was better than she was a day ago. Cindy recalled the Luxray into her Pokeball and put it in her bag. Umi had packed some provisions for them and put them in her bag.

"I think we should pack some syringes, just in case." Cindy suggested. Umi nodded and brought a few. Soon, they stood at the edge of the City. Maku stood by Umi, looking around at the abandoned city that used to be his and Umi's home. He was starting to think about his parents, but a comforting gesture from Umi helped a little. Cindy watched them for a while in silence, respecting the moment.

"All right, time to go." Cindy said. They began to walk forward, Maku and Umi taking one last glance at what used to be the shining city of fun. Maku suddenly broke from Umi's grasp and began to run. "Maku!" Umi cried and began to chase after him. He went into their former home, Umi following him.

Cindy and Lina watched this. "What's got into him now?" Lina asked. Cindy shook her head. "I don't know. Maku and Umi appeared once again, Maku holding something in his hands. It was their family picture. "Sorry…"That was all he said. Cindy understood. She shot a glance at Umi and saw that she understood too. They went back down the road and left Mauville City behind them.

-0-

The group walked down the road, a somber silence grasping them. At least the Cicadas still buzzed about. Maku looked around nervously, looking at the forest, being wary of any pokemon in the area. _Who can blame him? Out of all of us, he was the only one who turned into a pokemon…_

They heard a rustle in the bushes. They all stopped, Lina and Cindy pulling out Pokeballs, Umi putting Maku right behind her.

Nothing came out.

Cindy and Lina let out a sigh of relief. Cindy heard fluttering. She looked around and saw several trees with fliers on them. All of them had pictures of people and the words MISSING over them. She walked up to them and observed. There were pictures of many people, all of different ages, all of different gender and hometowns. Most of them were from Fortree. _A forest of missing…_

She saw a picture of a girl. She had short red hair and freckles. It said she was missing for over a month. She was from Fortree. _ Missing for a month? Maybe the virus? But wasn't the virus only announced a few weeks ago?_

She saw several other missing people. The information on the more recent ones rattled her. If they were trainers, they had a list of the pokemon roster they last had with them. She understood why. It was a list of what pokemon they might be. Other people just had the last pokemon they were seen with.

"What is this?" Asked Umi with a frightened tone. Cindy only closed her eyes. "Let's get out of here."

They nodded and left the haunting site, the fliers still fluttering.

**-0-**

**A/N: The wall of the missing…this concept originally came from an idea I had with my little niece for another pokemon transformation story (a separate universe from TaM's) in which Dawn from DP travels to a city and notices the wall of the missing people. It was kind of influenced by War of the worlds. (We all know what influenced **_**that...**_**) I also put a familiar character from the original Transformation story among the missing. The cry Cindy heard while hugging Maku was the sad cry of a creature of loneliness; a Lapras. Any readers of Ancient Society should understand that little Easter egg. Well, that's my commentary for this chap, please review. (Oh and don't forget about your request!) JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA!**


	16. Society Attack

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 16: Society attack**

**A/N: Here's another chap for all of you. Enjoy, MEE-YAA!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys. The virus and the Ancient Society belong to her as well. **_**I do **_**own Cindy and Lina. MEE-YAA!**

Later that day, Cindy, Lina, Umi, and Maku decided to take a break before continuing. Umi had brought out the snacks that she brought for them. She even brought some pokemon snacks, which Cindy and Lina fed their pokemon. Maku looked at all of them. Cindy had a Sandshrew, a Manectric, a Houndoom, her Quilava, and Sarah.

"Wow, you sure have a lot of pokemon." Maku said. Cindy closed her eyes and smiled. "Uh-huh. Want me to introduce you? The Manectric's Sherry, the Sandshrew is named Aimee," She pointed to the Houndoom. "That's Rain. This is Quilava,"

"Quil."

"And of course, you already know Sarah." The Luxray looked at him. "She belonged to our friend John." Sarah let Maku get close enough to stroke her. He looked at Cindy. "What happened to him?" the little boy asked. Cindy looked to the side. "I…I don't know…" Maku saw her expression. And knew that it was time to drop the subject, but he didn't know how. Lina knew it was time to step in.

"Uh, hey Maku, want to meet my Pokemon?" She pointed to her Meganium. "This is Lily, I've raised her since she was a little Chikorita," The Meganium lifted her head proudly. Lina pointed to a Furret happily munching on a treat. "That's Kashi, one of the first pokemon I caught. Raised her from a Sentret." A blue bird flew over her head real fast before landing on the ground. "Taillow!" It cried. "That's Swift, one of my first pokemon I caught in Hoen," The bird took off again. Lina shrugged and pointed to a little blue Nidoran. "That's Nene," A horse with a flaming mane grazed on some grass nearby. "And that's Eliza." She then looked away in sadness when she remembered that one pokemon was missing from her team. _Suzie…_

Cindy was a little wary when she saw the Ponyta. _In my dream…Lina became one…_

Maku looked at all of them. "Wow, you must be real good trainers." He looked down. "Me and Pichu were going to be partners. We were gonna be a team…" He shivered a bit. Umi went by him and hugged him gently. _He must still be traumatized by what happened to him. _She thought back to last night, hearing his cries, seeing his form shift, seeing the yellow fur grow, tears flowing from his eyes… She shook away those memories.

"All right, five more minutes, then we'll continue forward." The rest of the group nodded.

Cindy saw Sarah looking towards the sky with a worried expression. She was probably still worried for John. So was Cindy.

-0-

They continued down the road, Cindy and Lina with their hands to their belts, ready for any surprises that might come up. Umi hummed occasionally to make Maku and everyone else feel better. Suddenly, there was a rustling sound coming from the bushes. Everyone stopped, Lina and Cindy grabbing their Pokeballs. Umi grabbed Maku and put him behind her.

A little girl with pig-tailed magenta hair and weird markings on her tan skin walked in front of them. She giggled.

Cindy let her guard down. _A little girl? Hmm, maybe she needs help._

Lina however released her Pokeball. The light busted out and took the form of a Ponyta. The horse pokemon stood ready. "Lina, what are you doing?" Cindy asked.

Lina stared down the girl. "Something doesn't feel right." She said. The girl only giggled then let out an evil smile with her eyes. "Tee-hee, more trainers to play with!" She clapped her hands and giggled again. Cindy didn't like the way that sounded. There was more rustling. Cindy suddenly heard cries from Umi and Maku. She turned around and saw them being pushed against the ground by kids with the same markings as the little girl…

"It's them! They're the ones who attacked the city!" Umi cried out while struggling. The oldest kid walked up to Maku and stared him down. "You have broken the laws. You and your friends must pay." Cindy tried to walk up to him but several more kids appeared between him and her. "What laws? What are you talking about?" The little girl giggled again. "The laws of our lord Yasuo of course. You have to stay a pokemon or be punished!" She said enthusiastically.

_Lord Yasuo? Stay a pokemon…? _Cindy gritted her teeth. _Who are these people?_

"Now for the fun to start!" The little girl said. The oldest one nodded and made a gesture to two boys. They pulled out some Pokeballs and released them. Out came a Wurmple and a Zigzagoon. They walked towards Umi and Maku. "Ohh, I hope we get another shiny like that red Ninetales or even the Eevee boy!" The pig-tailed girl said clasping her hands together.

Cindy's eyes widened. _Eevee boy…John?_ The shiny Eevee in her dream made sense now. These people turned John. And now they were going to turn them into pokemon too. _The red Ninetales…Akira… _They probably got him too, but that wasn't possible, was it?

The Wurmple was crawling towards Umi while the Zigzagoon moved towards Maku. Both struggled to get free, but the kids forced them down more. Cindy was reaching for her ball when she felt like she was being pushed down. Several boys were holding her down. The Pokeball in her hand rolled a few feet away from her. _No! It can't end this way…_

The Wurmple was close to biting Umi's arm when a flame hit it and sent it back. The Zigzagoon turned and saw a Ponyta kick it away from Maku. "Good job Eliza!" Lina called out. The kids were taken aback at this and that gave Cindy a chance to break free from the kids on her back. She ran for her Pokeball and released it. Out came Sarah.

"Luxray, Lux!" She cried out.

Some of the kids had a shocked expression, as if they had seen the Luxray before. Cindy didn't know why they acted like this, but it gave her time to reach for another ball. "Go, Sherry!" The Manectric appeared. She pointed towards a group of them. "Use thunder wave, now!" Both pokemon bent down and started to crackle with electricity and released the wave of charged electrons. The kids were paralyzed instantly. Cindy and Lina ran towards Umi and Maku and helped them up. "Come on lets go!" Cindy cried out. She saw the kids beginning to recover from the attack. The oldest one snarled and pulled out a ball. He released it and out came a ferocious looking Umbreon. He pointed it at Cindy and it began to dash towards her. Sarah jumped in front of her and tackled it down. The two began to roll as they struggled. Cindy gasped. _If that pokemon has the virus and bites Sarah…No, I can't lose Sarah! _

"Sherry! Help Sarah out with a thunder shock!" The Manectric hunched down and fired off a bolt of energy towards the struggling pokemon. It struck the Umbreon hard and knocked it off Sarah. Sarah got up weakly but was still ok. She didn't look infected.

The boy snarled again. "You will all be pokemon!" He yelled at them.

"I don't think so! Sherry, Sarah, THUNDERBOLT!"

The two pokemon cried out together and released several bolts of lightning towards the kids, shocking them.

"Yeah! Take that!" Lina said.

The Umbreon got up and ran suddenly towards Eliza. "Eliza, watch out!" Lina called out. The Umbreon jumped up and wrapped around the Ponyta's neck and bit down hard.

"NO!" Lina cried out. The little girl, despite her injuries, giggled. Sarah, tired of her, began to dash towards her. It took awhile for Cindy to realize what she was going to do before Sarah sank her teeth into the girls arm. Umi and Cindy gasped. _Could Sarah have…?_ She couldn't believe it_. _

The Luxray got off of the girl and shocked the others gathering around her, knocking most of them out. She then directed a thunderbolt at the Umbreon and knocked it off of the Ponyta. She then ran towards Cindy and looked at her, as if asking what to do next. Cindy saw the Pokemon's eyes. _They still trust me…She's still Sarah… _She didn't know how, but she knew Sarah wasn't going to hurt them.

"Good job Sarah, return!" She recalled the Luxray. She also called back Sherry "Lina we have to go!" Lina nodded, still staring at her Ponyta who was struggling with itself, shuddering. She gave one last look and began to run, tears flowing behind her. The kids were starting to get up. Miki, the little girl with pigtails, looked at the bite marks on her arm and began to smile. "…I hope I'm a pretty shiny one!" She said. Then the little girl started to laugh and laugh.

-0-

Lina and Cindy were watching behind them while Umi and Maku ran ahead of them. Cindy heard the giggling from the girl far away. She was a little disturbed by this. She heard galloping. She turned and saw Eliza pursuing them, rage in the Ponyta's eyes. She gasped as she saw the horse knock down its former trainer to the ground. They all stopped. "Lina!" She called out.

"Run! Just go!" She said. The Pony at bent down and stared her down. Lina stared into the black eyes, her own wide and flowing with tears. _Eliza…_

The Ponyta narrowed its eyes and bit her shoulder hard. She cried out in pain.

Suddenly, a hole appeared around the Ponyta and it fell down. Lina weakly hung on to the edge while Eliza fell deeper into the collapsed ground. Lina looked up and saw Cindy there, reaching for her hand. She grabbed it. As she got up, Lina saw a Sandshrew in the corner of her eye.

"Good job, Aimee!" Cindy said as she recalled the little shrew. She began to run but Lina stopped.

"Wait." She said. She painfully reached for her Pokeball and aimed it at the horse kicking and thrashing in the hole. She pressed the button and recalled the fire pokemon.

"…return…" She said, then she fell to her knees and began to cry.

Cindy looked to Umi. "Quick, give me a syringe." Umi reached for her bag when she felt that it wasn't there. She gasped. "It must have fallen off when those kids jumped us!" Cindy thought for a sec. _We could go back…but those kids are probably waiting for us… _

She cursed mentally. _Damn it…it looks like our only hope is Fortree. _Those kids came out of the blue, they didn't expect to run into something like that. She saw Lina, still crying for her fallen friend.

Cindy walked up to Lina and put her hand on her other shoulder. Lina only closed her eyes as tears welled up. "It's all right Lina…everything is gonna be all right. I'm sure we can make it to Fortree in time for the c-"

"It's not that!….Eliza…first Suzie and now Eliza!" She threw her arms around Cindy and began to weep some more. Cindy stroked her head and made motherly hush sounds. _Poor Lina…out of all of us, this virus has taken more from her…_

She saw Lina's bleeding shoulder. She looked to the road behind them, then to the road ahead of them, and looked at the sky starting to take on tinges of orange as the sun began to set. _Damn…we better get moving if we want to cure Lina before midnight…_Cindy desperately hoped that Fortree did not end up like Mauville. "Come on, we have to get moving if we want to get Lina the cure." She helped Lina up and walked with her. Maku glanced at Lina then looked to the side. "Sorry…" He said. Lina managed a weak smile. "No…it wasn't your fault…I should be sorry…" She closed her eyes and began to tear up again. Maku only hugged her and felt tears stream down his eyes.

Cindy and Umi observed this scene in silence until Lina and Maku let go of each other, then started to move towards the road to Fortree city. Lina and Cindy still heard the little girl's innocent yet insane laughter in the back of their minds.

-0-

**A/N:….ok…I think I can do my commentary now. About Lina's pokemon: Originally, Kashi was a Linoone and Nene was a Nidorina, but I changed my mind after reading a one-shot that Felix the Eevee trainer wrote in which a Furret was involved; I thought it was cuter. I thought that Nidoran was cuter than Nidorina in the end as well. The society encounter seemed natural considering that technically they broke the rules with Maku's cure and all. It was also a chance for Sarah to get payback against the girl who turned John, Miki. I used the SOCCENT attack song from **_**Transformers**_** to help me write out the battle scene; I always used that theme for whenever Blake appeared in the original series when I read it, so it seemed natural when I used it when Sarah fought against the society. Let's hope they make it to Fortree in time. Oh, last chance for any transformation request incase you didn't send them. (I REALLY want to know if there are any transformations I can realize for you. But please do leave a comment about the chapter as well. You can PM the request to me if you don't want to send it in a review.) On a side note; Current Ancient Society time line: Fallabor town encounter and Tram/shaft ambush. Anyway, please review! MEE-YAA!**


	17. Blood on my hands

Transformation: Quarantine

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 17: "Blood on my hands."**

**A/N: Well, after receiving some helpful hints from Alto guardian, I've went back and fixed my constant misspelling of Hoen to Hoenn. (Sorry about that, I didn't know until that was pointed out..) I also altered chapters 15 and 16 for those who have read it in its original form to a more plausible reason as to why this chapter exists, but for new readers, ignore this fact. All of you, enjoy this chapter. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA! **

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon, Nintendo does. TurtlesandMonkeys owns the Transformation universe and its virus. (She also owns Umi). I own Cindy and Lina. MEE-YAA!**

Cindy was carrying Lina as she ran. Umi held her other arm, careful not to touch the shoulder that was bitten. Cindy looked up at the night sky. _Its already night! How much longer until we reach Fortree? _ She looked to Lina and thought back to her dream, her friend's hair catching ablaze, her body changing until she became a Ponyta. If they didn't reach Fortree in time, they could lose Lina. _Or worse, she goes out of control and infects us…_

"Come on, faster! We're almost there!"

Lina let out a forceful nod. They moved there feet faster.

-0-

_Welcome to Fortree City: "The tree top city that frolics with nature."_

The little town built on top of trees was visible at last. Cindy did not know what time it was, but she moved fast. Lina collapsed at the sign. She made a time-out sign with her hands while panting hard.

"Hold on, let me just…catch my breath…" She said while leaning against the sign.

"Lina come on, we're almost there!" Cindy said.

Umi panted too along with Maku. "Cindy, I really think we should take a breather."

Cindy saw their tired faces and realized she was panting too. She looked to the city, then at the crescent moon above. She trembled then fell to her knees. "Ok, but we have to get to the pokemon center as soon as possible before midnight." She looked to Lina.

_Don't worry, you're gonna make it…I'm not gonna lose another friend…_

Lina cried out and Cindy looked up right away. _Has it started? _Lina was grasping her shoulder. It was still bleeding. She winced a bit. "Don't worry…it's only my shoulder…" Umi came and helped her up along with Cindy. Cindy put her hands to Lina's shoulder and began to apply pressure and Lina cried out. "It's ok Lina, its ok. I'm only stopping the bleeding." Her hands began to turn red with her friend's blood. A part of her was concerned about that. _If the virus is in the bloodstream, then can't the blood spread it too? _She put on a determined expression. _Oh well…if I'm gonna turn, at least it's with Lina…_

-0-

They finally entered the city. There was light so it wasn't deserted. Some people saw them running and closed their windows and doors when they caught sight of Lina's bleeding shoulder. They saw the pokemon center and ran straight for it. _I think I can see Nurse Joy. _She looked to Lina and saw a brief glimmer of hope in her friend's eyes.

The doors to the pokemon center were pushed open. Nurse Joy turned and saw a girl with a bleeding shoulder being held by her friends. They were all panting as if they had been running for hours. Cindy looked up at the nurse. "We need a syringe."

Nurse Joy looked at Lina. "What happened? Is she…? She must be infected then."

"There's still time to stop it, but we need a syringe now." Cindy said. Nurse Joy nodded and went to the back of the center. Cindy dared not to look at the clock, but caught a glance.

10:20. She let out a sigh of relief.

"We made it." Cindy told Lina. Lina only let out a weak smile. Nurse Joy came back with the needle in hand. "All right, here's the syringe."

Cindy took it. "Thank you." She stuck the syringe in her arm and flinched a bit, then began to extract DNA. She looked to Lina. "All right Lina, I'm going to give you the cure…" Lina gulped a bit as she saw the needle. She began to sweat. "Lina, I have to do this." Lina closed her eyes and nodded. She closed them tightly and held out her arm. Cindy stuck the syringe into her arm. Lina let out a cry. "Ah! That stings!" She gritted her teeth as the needle punctured her skin. _Don't worry, it's almost over…_

Cindy pushed her DNA into Lina, then took it out. She let out a sigh of relief. "Whew. Don't worry Lina, you're going to be all right." Lina opened one eye then closed them again as she threw her arms around Cindy and hugged her while shedding silent tears.

Cindy hugged her back.

Nurse Joy came up. "You cured her?" She looked to Lina's shoulder. "Never mind. Let me treat that wound." Umi looked up. "You treat humans as well?" Nurse Joy closed her eyes in a smile. "Well, it is in my duties to help pokemon, but that doesn't mean I can't treat people too. Don't worry, I'll help your friend." Cindy nodded and let Nurse Joy take Lina. She then moved to a cushion and sat in it while letting out an exhausted sigh. Umi sat across from her while Maku rested his head on her lap. She was humming to him. Nurse Joy came back. "If you want me to treat any pokemon for you, I will be glad to help." Cindy still had her eyes closed when she heard it then opened them. "Huh, oh, all right." She unclipped her belt but kept one ball. Nurse Joy took the belt and went to the back.

Cindy looked to the ball that contained Sarah. _She's infected, she bit that girl…yet she still obeys me. How? _When any other tame pokemon got infected, they went completely out of control. The Cindy thought back to what the scientist, Sherice, said about humans who turned into pokemon but still retained their mind because the virus didn't attack them fully. _Maybe it's the same with Sarah…still, I think I should keep her to be on the safe side…_She thought back to the incident in Verdanturf when Lina's Ampharos attacked Nurse Joy.

"You want me to get you a towel or something?" Cindy looked up to Nurse Joy. She looked to her fingers, still soaked with blood. "Yes, thank you." She got up and took the towels. "There's a sink in the back you could use." Nurse Joy pointed it out. Cindy nodded and began to walk towards it.

Cindy arrived at the sink and turned the water on. She put her hands against the running water and watched it turn crimson as it washed the blood off. The bloody water began to swirl as it went down the drain. Cindy watched this as she washed her hands, thinking back to how close she was to loosing her friend. She remembered Ken, the boy with the Sneasle; bleeding from an arm, his shirt shredded and bleeding as well. She continued washing her hands of the crimson blood.

-0-

Cindy was walking, drying her hands when she caught sight of Lina. Her friend had her orange jacket off and her shoulder was properly bandaged. Her headband was off and her brown hair was loose but straight. She let a weak smile for Cindy. Cindy smiled and finished drying her hands and walked up to Lina.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" Cindy asked. Lina gently rubbed her injured shoulder. "Well, better, thanks to you…" She looked down. "I'm sorry I acted that way when you tried to cure me." Cindy sat next to her. "It's all right. I'm just wondering how you are feeling after…" She trailed off when she saw Lina look away. _She must still be torn up over Eliza…_ Cindy remembered the look in the Ponyta's eyes before it attacked its former master. She remembered Lina weeping for her fallen pokemon, Eliza and Suzie. She put an arm over Lina. "Well, I'm glad to see that you're doing better."

Lina put on a determined look. "Cindy…" Cindy looked to her. "Hmm?"

Lina looked to her, her eyes blazing. "We're going to make it, are we? We're going to beat this." Cindy only stared before blinking and nodded with a smile. Lina smiled too.

"I think you should let your friend rest." Nurse Joy was at the doorway. Cindy looked back. "Ok." She looked to Lina. "Well, goodnight." Lina nodded. "Good night to you too."

Cindy went back to the waiting room and saw Maku sleeping on Umi's lap. She smiled. Nurse Joy came back. "We have some guest rooms that you are welcome to spend the night in." She said with her smile. Cindy nodded and gently rubbed Umi. Umi woke up and carried Maku with her. They soon went a room with two bunk beds. Umi put Maku on the top bunk and tucked him in. She put his glasses in their case and tucked it in his shirt pocket. She gave him a kiss on the forehead and went down to her bed and tucked herself in. Cindy's bed was a little closer to the window so she saw the moonlight overhead. She sat on her bead and stared at the crescent moon, her thoughts replaying the events that transpired earlier. _Those kids…they said something about laws of their lord named Yasuo or something. What kind of laws say you have to stay a pokemon forever? _

_I think those kids and their ideas are dangerous... _

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw someone poke their head down from the top bunk. It was Lina, her back in a ponytail. She was upside down and smiled. "Hey. I wanted to be you bunk buddy, if you don't mind that is." Cindy smiled. "Sure." Lina closed her eyes in a smile. "Night." She went back to her bunk. Cindy smiled then yawned. She pulled the covers over her self and rested on her side. She faced the window. _Good night, John…_

She closed her eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.

-0-

Somewhere, a little girl giggled, then began to cry out, still giggling insanely. Her magenta hair began to grow out and spike up, her bands holding her pigtails broke as her hair grew ridged. Her hair turned a purple color. Soon, purple fur started to grow on her chest and arms, but missed near her stomach, then continued near her hips. A purple tail sprouted from her rear as a silver star grew at the end. Her legs cracked and she fell forward on her hands. Her toes started to merge and her feet shrank into paws. Her tan skin turned a light blue color as her hands started to shrink into paws, silver rings forming on her arms. Her ears began to stretch larger and larger and her purple hair began to grow from her chest and cover her neck and reached her cheeks. Her hair on her head began to grow downward and began to narrow down her nose, leaving a purple streak. Her nose turned black and her face grew a bit longer as her mouth and nose merged together to become a snout. The change was complete. The purple Luxray shook the tattered clothes off of its body and bounded towards a hill. It began to make strange sounds, as if it were giggling. Then the Luxray bounded off into the forest, laughing as it did.

-0-

**A/N: Well, a transformation did occur in this chapter. XD. I decided to grant Miki's wish and turn her into a shiny, but I struggled on what color I should make her. .. I eventually settled on purple since it is one of my favorite colors, but I still kept the blue skin that most Luxrays have. I'm just so proud of how far this story has come along, and I haven't even reached the end yet! The title was inspired by a Dark Knight track, which was named after a quote from Bruce Wayne. Considering what happened, I think it's appropriate. . Ok, this will be the **_**last **_**time I call for it: Any request for pokemon transformations? I'll still continue if I don't get any, but I still would like to know. Oh well, PM me the request or leave in review. Thank you. Once again, thank you to Alto guardian for pointing out my constant error. Current Ancient Society timeline: chapter 11: escape; when Missy and Co. escape the Tram/shaft ambush. Please review. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA! **


	18. Reminiscence

Transformation: Quarantine

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 18: Reminiscence**

**A/N: Well, I never expected to reach this far! XD. Well, this story has reached the full length of Ancient Society, I still can't believe its still going. Lord Nalthren, you've submitted my 42****nd**** review, 42 being my favorite number. Thank you. And Thank you all for your reviews, and now the story continues. (Ps: Miki was one strange, creepy, conniving character, but what do you expect from a character who was conceived while listening to **_**why so serious? **_**LOL! Extra PS: Thanks for the requests!)MEE-YAA! **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own pokemon, Nintendo does. I also do not own the virus created in the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys, I am only borrowing it with permission from her. I DO own Cindy, Lina, and Maku. (Umi is TaM's.) CHIKA! CHIKORI!**

He was there…_John_…

Cindy reached for him in her sleep, her body raised from her covers as she reached out with one arm.

"…John…?" She murmured.

John was himself again, his eyes still shining with the same determination. He looked to Cindy and gave her a smile. _John… _ She walked to him.

He began to turn away; there was a tree, a pink tree, its pink petals fluttering off beautifully.Cindy began to follow…

_Cindy? Cindy…_

-0-

Cindy began to stir awake. She opened her eyes and saw Lina.

"Hi Cindy."

Cindy began to stretch, then snapped as she thought of something.

"Lina, was I…talking in my sleep?"

Lina looked to the side. "Well…"

Cindy blushed. Lina put a hand on Cindy's shoulder. "It's ok. It was about John, wasn't it?"

Cindy looked to the side. "Yeah…but this time, he was John again, instead of being a shiny silver Eevee."

Lina gave her a look of hope. "Maybe he's Ok?"

Cindy sighed. "I don't know…I can never be sure with these dreams."

She ran her fingers through her hair and rubbed the back of her neck. She turned and saw Maku and Umi still asleep in their bunks. She looked outside and saw that it was daybreak. She then grabbed a Pokeball and stared at it. _Sarah…_

She closed her eyes and thought to herself. _John might be ok, let's hope I'm right._

-0-

Cindy put on her shoes and began to go walk inside the Pokemon Center. She saw Nurse Joy, sleeping on the counter. Cindy smiled and continued to walk around the center. She bumped into something and let out a brief yelp of surprise. She watched as the Chansey she bumped into rolled back. "Chansey!" It cried in surprise.

"Oops, sorry!" Cindy said and helped the pink pokemon up. Chansey only gave her a big smile. "Chansey!"

Nurse Joy began to stir awake. She stretched and yawned, then saw Cindy.

"Oh, good morning. Did you have a restful night?"

Cindy smiled. "Yeah, thank you."

Nurse Joy came by with Cindy's Poke belt. "Your pokemon are healed and rested."

Cindy took the belt. "Thank you." She clipped it on and looked out the window. Nurse Joy walked to the counter and sighed. She looked to Cindy. "You know, you were real lucky you brought your friend here when you did. Not many people manage to get cured before turning. I've heard from my cousin in Rustboro about what happened in Verdanturf." She looked away for a moment. "Like I said, your friend was very lucky."

Cindy turned to her. "Well, its thanks to you we were able to cure Lina. Thank you, for everything."

Nurse Joy smiled. "Well, that's my job." She closed her eyes and made a victory sign with her hands.

Cindy walked to her. "Then can you help us one more time?"

Nurse Joy had a puzzled expression on her face. "Hmm?"

Cindy put her backpack on the counter. "Do you have any extra syringes we can take on our journey? We had some, but they were lost when we were ambushed by a strange group of people."

Nurse Joy's eyes widened. "A strange group of people?" She turned around and went to the back of the room. She came back with a set of syringes.

"This is all we have. The one we used on your friend still needs to be cleaned."

Cindy looked at the set and counted seven, eight if you count the one used on Lina.

"We'll take four. One for each, plus we both have the same amount. We wouldn't want you to be without any."

Nurse Joy looked impressed. "Wow, that's very considerate of you."

Cindy smiled. "Thank you."

She put four in her bag and left the rest for Joy, who took the rest to the back.

-0-

Later that day, they were ready to leave. Umi packed some provisions in a new bag that Nurse Joy gave her. Lina wore her orange jacket again and was ready to move again. They waved their good-byes. Nurse Joy came and gave Cindy a portable first aid kit.

"I wish you well on your journey. Take care of yourselves."

Cindy nodded. "You too."

They turned and began to head on their way out of Fortree. While they were walking out, Cindy noticed a man with a reddish orange beard walk by with a grim expression on his face. She thought back to the red headed girl she saw at the wall of the missing. She stopped for a sec, watched the man continue on his way, and wished him well with whatever was troubling him.

"Cindy, Are you coming?" Lina asked from ahead.

Cindy jolted back to reality.

"Huh? Sure."

She gave one last look at the man, then walked to join her friends.

-0-

They were walking down the road, this time keeping an eye out for anything, pokemon or otherwise. Ever since their encounter with those kids, they were extra vigilant. A thought came to Cindy.

"Hey, do you want to hear something interesting? It's kind of a story."

Lina turned. "Sure, shoot."

Cindy nodded and continued walking. "Well, back when I battled John in Sinnoh, I noticed that his Luxio, I mean Sarah, kept nuzzling and licking him." She looked to the ball that carried Sarah. "After the battle, we had a rest and he told me the reason why she liked him so much. When he was starting his journey, he and his Chimchar Burn were traveling when they heard a noise. They went to go check it out and it was Sarah, when she was Shinx, being attacked by a group of angry Starly. The Shinx was severely wounded. John steps in and has Burn use Ember to chase away the birds, then he rushes to help the little Shinx, who was dying."

She smiled to herself. "He told me he took her to the nearest poke center and took her to Nurse Joy right away. He worried and worried for her, until Nurse Joy told him he could see her. He stayed all night with her, never leaving her side. When she woke up the next day, she saw him sleeping and remembered how he saved her, and from then on, she stayed by his side and always nuzzled him, like she did at the battle, to show that she never stopped loving him."

She sighed and smiled to herself.

Maku looked up at her. "Hey, maybe she likes you too. She's probably grateful for you saving her."

Cindy looked at him. "You really think so?"

Umi thought about it. "Well, that might explain why she saved you when she did, to repay for all you've done for her. In a way, she respects you as much as she did her master."

Cindy looked at the ball. _Is that why you saved me? Well, it doesn't matter. When I find John again, I'm going to personally give you back to him. Who knows, maybe I could ask him about how he feels about…_

She began blushing again. Lina looked to her. "Oh boy, there she goes again." She rolled her eyes and smiled. Cindy snapped back into reality and her face began to turn red. While Lina chuckled, Umi and Maku just stared with confusion.

-0-

They decided to stop and take a break by the side of the road. Cindy kept an eye on Lina. "How's your shoulder?" She asked. Lina put her hand gently on her shoulder that was bitten. "Well, its getting better. It's still a reminder of what happened earlier…" She looked to the side. "Hey Maku."

He looked up. "Yes?"

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's it like? Being a Pokemon, that is."

Maku looked down and fiddle with his glasses. "Well, I don't remember. All I do remember is the pain that came when you turn into one…" He began to shudder, remembering when he turned into a Pichu. Umi began to rub his arms to calm him down.

Lina looked to the side. "I'm sorry I asked."

Maku smiled. "It's ok." He still shuddered.

Cindy was about to say something when she began to hear a noise. She got up quickly and looked around. "Everyone, the bushes."

They nodded and went into the bushes. They peeked from their hiding spot.

Several Humvees drove by on the road, cruising at a slowpace as troops in grey nylon suits patrolled near them. It was the Viral Pokemon Containment Unit.

"Hey, it's those guys again." Cindy muttered. She watched as a troop got real close by their spot and still looked around. Cindy overheard their radio.

"This is recon 385 sigma en route to Lily base. We're continuing our search. Total VP's captured today up around seven or so."

The other radio crackled. "Roger, sigma."

Another voice sounded on the radio. "This is recon 510 Alpha, we've encountered a massive allocation of VP's near Mauville. Civilian casualties are high. The City is lost. The army of VP's itself too large to carry in one day. But that's not even the weird thing about it."

There was a pause.

"They were already caged when we got there."

"Copy that, Alpha, we'll send a recon crew to investigate further."

There was another signal coming in.

"This is recon Omega, we have a situation in the shafts at Lavaridge."

There was a wild sound blaring through. "…SCYTHER!…"

"DAMN! CONTAIN IT! WATCH THE CLAWS! THE CLAWS!"

There was static.

"This is Lily base Zeta, all nearby forces in the Lavaridge area be aware of any strange persons. Suspect descriptions match minors with dark skin and markings on skin. All units should be advise to use caution when dealing with suspects. Usually armed with pokemon and are considered very dangerous."

Another signal sounded through.

"This is recon Omega, situation nominal."

"Copy that Omega. Lily base, this is Sigma. We'll finish our sweep up to Fortree then return to Lilycove, over."

"Roger. Alpha, send status report when finished with investigation, over?"

There was static. "I repeat, send status report when finished with investigation, do you copy?"

More static.

"Sigma, this is Lily base, finish your sweep then send small number of units to rendezvous with Alpha squad and re-establish contact, then send communications at Sakura base. Until then, Mauville is a danger zone."

"Roger that. Come on, lets move."

Cindy and the others waited until the units . Cindy thought for a moment. _Sakura base? _She thought back to her dream with the pink tree, _a Sakura blossom tree…_

Cindy turned to the others. "We should keep moving."

Lina and the others nodded. They continued down the road.

-0-

**A/N: Well that's the end of that one! . Swack 16 sent me a pm regarding the story mentioned above and I liked it so much that I put it in this chapter. Now that I think about it, it kind of reminds me of Ash and Chikorita, that it became affectionate with him after he saved it in the snowy mountains. Sigh I miss those days. Another interesting thing is the encounter with the H.D.C. again. Yes, they're still around. I used the radio transmission method from so many Sci-fi movies (I.E. The ambush scene in AvP-R) to show Cindy and the readers that this is a major event, it also shows that the Ancient Society is starting to gain attention. The real reason I wrote that part was to show how the H.D.C would react to all those pokemon that used to be the population of Mauville City. Boy, Umi and Maku must've died a little hearing about the massive army of Viral Pokemon that could have their parents among them. Oh, that man that Cindy encountered on the way out: let's just say he has a tie to a character in the original Transformation story. Another Easter egg hidden among this chapter is the Scyther that attacked Omega squad.0. Current Ancient Society timeline: Lavaridge Arrival/ /Lavaridge fall/Sakura base arrival/Mutated Virus theft. Please Review. JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA! **


	19. Long Grass

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 19: The Long grass**

**A/N: Here's another chapter. Enjoy MEE-YAA!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon, Nintendo does. The Transformation universe and its virus belong to TurtlesandMonkeys; I am borrowing it with her permission. **

**I do own Cindy, Lina, and the Hoenn defense corps. CHIKA! CHIKORI!**

Cindy and the others were walking as the sky began to take on tinges of yellow and pink. _The sun is already setting and we haven't even reached halfway yet…_

Cindy thought to herself. They have been very cautious, keeping an eye out for any pokemon or people like the V.P.C.U. or even people like those kids that attacked them earlier. So far, everything was calm.

They soon came upon a large field of tall grass. There was a part that looked like it was cut down and diverted into a maze. Umi gulped when they came across it.

"There might be some pokemon with the virus hidden in there." She said.

Cindy thought about it. "Yeah maybe, but there is no other way to Lilycove. We have to go through it."

She took her backpack off, opened it, and took out the 4 syringes. She gave one to each.

"In case any of us gets infected, inject that person as soon as you can." They nodded. Cindy took hers and stuck it in her arm, and extracted DNA. Lina gulped and closed her eyes before sticking her syringe in her arm. She flinched and a few tears began to form as she extracted her DNA. She took it out and released a sigh of relief. Umi helped Maku's with his and did the same thing. She looked at Maku while she did it. "Like I promised, I'm not going to let it happen to you again." She said with a smile.

Cindy stepped forward. "All right…let's get going." She took a breath, slid her syringe in her pocket, and went first into the grass maze. She turned and reached a hand out for Maku. He grabbed it and grabbed Umi's arm with his other hand. Lina followed last, her hand to one of her Pokeballs, but she gave it a second thought. …_I'm not gonna lose anyone again…not like Suzie and Eliza…_

She narrowed her eyes and entered the maze.

-0-

Cindy walked forward, the tall grass scraping against her face, arms, and legs as she pushed forward. Her other hand still grasped Maku's. There was several clear areas that went into paths, but is would be quicker to cut through the maze. _It may be faster, but it's not easier…and could be more dangerous…_

She continued trudging forward, never letting go of Maku's hand.

-0-

Maku clenched tightly to Cindy's hand and didn't let go of Umi's hand either. All he saw was tall grass. _How are we going to see if pokemon are going to attack us with all this grass?_ He asked himself. _I don't want it to happen again…_ He remembered when it felt like his body was on fire, and he didn't know what to do except scream out loud. He felt the fur growing on his body, felt the tail push out and his ears grow out. He felt his body painfully compress itself until he was a Pichu…

"_I'm swear I'm not going to let it happen to you again…"_ Umi's words echoed in his head. He remembered her determined look. _It must have been hard for Umi too…_ He thought back to when they were ambushed, his thoughts frightened that he might be a pokemon again. _And it almost happened to Umi…_ He shuddered as he thought about it, but then he heard some reassuring humming from Umi. _Mom…dad…_

He kept his tears to himself.

-0-

Umi felt Maku's hand shudder and knew he was thinking about the traumatic events earlier and began to hum their mother's lullaby again to calm him down. _Poor Maku, he'll probably never look at pokemon the same way every other normal boy does…_ She closed her eyes when she remembered hearing him talk about anticipating his own pokemon journey along with Pichu as his companion. _But he hasn't completely shunned them…he was ok when he met Cindy and Lina's Pokemon…_ She thought back to the ambush. _He was so close to becoming one again…_

She thought back to her promise at the Pokemon center. _Don't worry Maku, I swear I won't let it happen to you again…no matter what happens…_

-0-

Lina was on constant alert as they plowed through the grass, her hand gripping the syringe Cindy gave her. _Man I hate needles…but I'd hate to lose one of my friends even more…_ She remembered when she was in Petalburg, taking a rest from her journey, when that scientist, Sherice, came on TV and announced the virus. At first she thought it was nonsense, but still, something inside her told her that it was not safe to bee in Hoenn anymore. She got her things ready and was heading off to Rustboro to warn Ken, then she ran into Cindy and John. _I wonder what Cindy saw when she was at Rustboro…_She probably knows that Ken was gone, but she just had to know…

"Hey, Cindy!" She called out. Cindy turned her head. "Yeah?"

"When you were at Rustboro, you saw something happen to Ken, didn't you?"

She summed up some courage. "Did the virus get him?"

Cindy paused before turning her head again. "Yes…he turned into a Sneasle before my very eyes. I'm sorry."

Lina just nodded. _I thought so…but maybe there's still a chance…maybe I can find Ken and cure him…_

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Umi cry out. She immediately looked down and saw an Oddish scamper by. Her eyes darted to Umi's bleeding leg.

_Oh no!_

-0-

Umi cried out as she felt a pinch in her leg,. Her heart started to beat rapidly and she looked down to see the Oddish run away into the grass. She gasped. She turned and saw Lina rush forward and immediately stick her syringe into Umi's arm. She injected right away.

As soon as Lina pulled out the syringe she yelled out. "Everybody, RUN!"

Cindy began to dash and narrowly missed a Bellsprout as it rushed forward with its open mouth, but it fell to the ground when it missed her. Cindy pulled Maku with her and he pulled Umi. Lina was extracting DNA from her arm once more. Cindy scanned the grass with her eyes, looking for any sign of any pokemon that might attack. She was reaching for a Pokeball when she heard Lina.

"No! Don't send out any Pokemon. If they get infected, it might mean more trouble for us!"

Cindy then reached for her syringe when she felt something bite her leg. It was a Paras. She screamed and kicked it away. She immediately stuck her syringe in her own arm and pushed her DNA into her system. _It probably takes awhile for the cure to spread completely, it might not be safe to extract again for a little bit…_ That left Lina and Maku for curing them. She hoped that they didn't get bitten along the way.

She heard another cry from Umi and saw a Bellossom run away from her. This time Maku let go of Cindy's hand and reached for his syringe and gave it to Umi. She took it and injected herself right away. She then picked up Maku and began to run with him in her arms. She caught up with Cindy and Lina began to run too. She winced again as she extracted more blood into the syringe. _We're almost out, just a little more…_

The grass suddenly disappeared and all four stumbled out of the grassy maze. They got up right away and still continued to run. Cindy saw a bridge over some water. "Over there!" She called out. They began to run across it when a Poliwhirl jumped on the bridge and put a hand in front of them. "Poliwhirl!" It exclaimed.

They all stopped, but then noticed that Poliwhirl did not have a mouth. Cindy smiled and confidently pushed the Poliwhirl aside off the bridge and into the lake. They ran past the bridge, but not before another Poliwhirl jumped out. Lina turned around to confront it when a strange sound hit her. She suddenly began to slump and grow drowsy. _What the?! It…must be…Hypnosis! _She was starting to get sleepy. Cindy and Umi called for her.

She was vaguely aware of a Remoraid jumping high above the lake and winced as it bit her arm and went back into the lake. Before she completely passed out, she heard Cindy say something and saw lightning hit the Poliwhirl before she completely blacked out.

-0-

_Lina? Lina…_

Lina had her eyes closed. _What happened? I remember the grass…the Remoraid bit me! Did they cure me in time? _

Lina opened her eyes and saw Cindy and Umi and Maku, all with worried expressions on their faces. Lina put…a hand on her forehead and smiled. "Whew, that was a close one." She said.

Maku stepped forward. "I'm glad I could help, Lina."

She looked up and saw the night sky, and looked to the arm that was bitten and saw some bandages. She saw Umi and smiled. "That's nice work you did there." She said. She got up and looked around and saw that they were in an area of the forest.

"We'll rest here for the night, then we'll continue to Lilycove tomorrow." Cindy said.

Lina nodded when Umi came along. "Thank you," Lina said. Umi blushed.. "Actually, I should be thanking you. I'd probably be a pokemon right now if it weren't for you."

Lina only smiled and laid back down again.

-0-

Cindy looked at the moon overhead. _That was close…those pokemon actively attacked us. Did the virus cause them to act like that? _Then she thought for a moment. _That attack was too well planed to be some random attack._ She thought about the H.D.C. transmission and about the society. _Could it…could it be them that are responsible for this?_

She closed her eyes and sighed. She didn't know what to think. _We were lucky we had those syringes and it wasn't close to midnight... _

She looked at her leg and shuddered when she remembered the Paras that bit it. That was the first time she was bitten by any pokemon. _Like I said…we were lucky…_

-0-

**A/N: Whew! That was a close one. To be honest, I was originally going to have them arrive at Lilycove in this chapter, but then I thought about it and played Pokemon emerald and traveled from Fortree to Lilycove and found out about the grass path. I thought about it and decided to write this chapter about a random pokemon assault in the long grass.** **This also showed the advantages of the buddy cure system, but they were lucky it worked here…**

**The Bellossom that bit Umi was a bit of a reference to Mutated.**

**Anyway, they're almost at Lilycove, but will they make it out of this mess? Please review! JonseyCat, out! MEE-YAA! **

**Current Ancient Society timeline: Path to destruction/fall of Lavaridge and theft at Sakura base.**


	20. Breach

-1**Transformation: Quarantine**

**20:Breach**

**A/N: Hello, I'm back! Well, I'm at 20 chapters and I'm so happy! TT. we're almost near the end. :o! Enjoy this chap. MEE-YAA!**

**On a side note: I've recently become acquainted with a little movie called "Quarantine". Let me clear the air by saying that movie and this story have NO connection whatsoever. I used the title before I even heard of this movie, so (.)**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon, Nintendo does. TurtlesandMonkeys owns the Transformation universe and its virus; I am only borrowing it with her permission.**

**I DO own Cindy, Lina and Maku. CHIKO! CHIKORI!**

There was darkness. There were piles of discarded clothing, as if the owners had either cast them aside…_or shrunk out of them…_

There was a Quilava standing in the moonlight…

_Quilava…?_

-0-

Cindy stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes as the first signs of daylight reached her eyes. She stretched and yawned and rubbed one eye with her hand and looked with the other one. She saw Lina, sleeping with her face in her arms while on her stomach as usual, then saw Lina and Maku sleeping next to each other, their hands clasping in the middle between them. She looked at this sight and smiled. _We've been through so much together, it's amazing…_

She knelt by her bag and pulled out a Pokeball. It erupted and out came Quilava.

"Lava, Quilava!" It exclaimed happily. Cindy smiled and turned it over and began to rub its belly. The little fire pokemon began to laugh. She then picked it up and let it nuzzle its head against her. This made her think of John. _Stay safe…wherever you are…_

She thought while looking to the morning sky.

She heard a groan and turned and saw Lina standing on her knees and yawn a deep yawn with her eyes closed. She then cricked her neck and turned towards Cindy. "Morning..." She said, her eyes still sleepy.

Cindy smiled and went over to Lina. "Morning. How are you holding up?"

Lina still rubbed her eyes. "Well, I'm still me. I'd be bottom feeding if it weren't for the cure."

"We're almost at Lilycove. We should reach it before the day is up." Cindy said, turning her head toward the horizon. Lina opened her eyes and let off a sideways smile.

"Then we're in the home stretch?" She asked. Cindy looked to the side. "Looks that way, but we still have to be careful."

Lina got up suddenly. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Her growling stomach answered her question. She smiled sheepishly. "Heh-heh. It _has_ been awhile since we last ate anything."

Cindy giggled and got up. "I think Umi packed some provisions. I'll wake her up and see if we can have some before we're off."

Lina made a victory sign. "Ok."

-0-

After they ate, the group started moving again. They cleaned the syringes at a nearby stream, Sarah on standby incase any water pokemon attacked, then continued down the road to Lilycove. They crossed several bridges and came across another field of tall grass, but this one had evidence of the H.D.C.'s presence, the grass cut down in a clear path for the vehicles to pass through. Still, Cindy and the others were cautious when they traveled through the grass. Luckily, the venture went off with no pokemon attacks. Occasionally, Cindy and the others came across some articles of discarded clothing, a reminder of the horror that was occurring around Hoenn at the time.

Still they walked onward.

-0-

_Welcome to Lilycove city: "Where the land and sea meet."_

"We made it! Cindy said. They were leaning on the outskirts of town, exhausted, panting. The sun was starting make its decent. Cindy turned to the others and gave a tired smile. They smiled back. _It's almost over…_

-0-

They strolled into town, the town still lively with people. That relieved Cindy and the others. Their first stop was the pokemon center. Cindy walked in and saw Nurse Joy there. When she caught sight of them, she snapped into action. "Oh, do you need me to look at your pokemon?" She asked, a small hint of fear in her voice.

Cindy and Lina knew why, but they took their viral pokemon and separated them from their belts and gave the rest to Nurse Joy. She nodded and went to the back of the room. Cindy and Lina went back into the waiting room where Maku and Umi rested. Cindy sat down and saw a woman passing by.

"Um excuse me, miss?" Cindy asked with a polite voice.

The woman stopped and turned to her. "Yes?"

"Um, do you know anything about the cure clinics that the scientist Sherice said she was starting in this city?"

The woman took a step back. "You're not infected ,are you?"

Cindy raised her arms in defense. "No, We just want to know where she is."

The woman shrugged. "Well, she left the city a few days ago. I hear that she was at Mauville. No one has heard from her or Mauville since."

Cindy only stared. "Really? Thank you, miss."

The woman left. Cindy looked down. _At Mauville a few days ago? Was she there when it was hit? _She didn't know why, but she thought of the haunting sound that she heard back in Mauville, the sad lonely sound.

"All right, your pokemon are in tip-top shape. Have a nice day." Nurse Joy said.

Cindy and Lina took their poke belts. "Thanks. Um, Nurse Joy? Where do we find tickets for ferries out of Hoenn?" Cindy asked.

Nurse Joy closed her eyes and sighed. "Unfortunately, there're are no more ferries departing or arriving at Lilycove."

Cindy's eyes widened. "What? Why?"

A voice sounded behind them. "Because they hold a high risk of breaching the quarantine zone and spreading this virus beyond Hoenn."

Lina growled. "You!"

Cindy turned around and saw the blond haired man, Jason from the command tent, standing there. He smiled.

"Well, congratulations on making it this far."

Several H.D.C troops stood by him.

He made a gesture and they began moving towards them. The grabbed Cindy and the others and began to move them forcefully out of the pokemon center.

Nurse Joy gasped and began to step forward. "Hold on! What do you think you're doing?"

The red-patch man with the black visor held his hand up. "Standard quarantine procedure, remain calm."

Nurse Joy furrowed her brows. "Well, I think it's wrong your doing this. They haven't done anything wrong, there just ki-"

The man silenced her with his glove. "If you don't calm down, we'll have to process and quarantine you as well."

Nurse Joy pushed his hand aside. "You can't do this, you can-"

The man pulled a trigger and Nurse Joy yelped as a needle punctured her skin. She began to grow drowsy and fell backwards. The man holstered his tranquilizer pistol and walked away while Chansey panicked.

-0-

Cindy and the others were taking to the makeshift camp of the unit. She saw several other trainers, some of them waiting with worried expression, with the more volatile ones handcuffed and yelling to see their pokemon again. They were taking to a tent and Jason took his seat behind a desk with papers on it. The units sat them down in chairs, pushing them down if they got up.

"Please, get comfortable. You're going to be here for awhile." He looked to the troops. "The belts." Cindy and Lina began to protest as they took their poke belts away.

"Ah, yes I remember you two. You were there the night Akira abandoned the unit." He rubbed one side of his face as if reliving that night. He turned to Umi and Maku. "You two, on the other hand, I believe this is the first time we've met." He cleared his throat as if he were going to make a speech. "My name is Jason S. Keys. And I run the Viral Pokemon contain-"

"You're just a bully! Taking us like this and treating us like, like, were criminals or something!" Umi shouted at him.

Jason only took this in and smiled. "Now then, there's no reason to shout." He stood up.

"I'm sorry if you feel like your being treated unfairly, but like I say, sometimes you got to twist a few arms for some cooperation." He walked to Cindy. "You still need a little twisting before you cooperate."

Cindy only stared angrily at him. "Just what are you trying to do?"

Jason closed his eyes in a cocky smile. "Why, I already told you. Our task is to quarantine this virus before it breaches any other region."

"But what about Hoenn, and the people inside it? Your trapping them and condemning them to a cruel fate!" Cindy yelled at him. Jason only shook his head. "I wish you can understand what we're trying to do here."

Cindy only continued to glare at him. The tent opened up. "Commander Keys?"

"Yes Marlow?"

Cindy turned and saw Marlow, only with out his hazmat suit. He was wearing some olive drab pants and a olive shirt with a cap. "We've lost communication with omega squad and contact with Sakura base has failed. We've also searched the recently acquired pokemon. Seems to be no sign of infection." He stopped when he saw Cindy. "Cynthia Richards? " He asked.

Jason cleared his throat. "Thank you Marlow, that will be all." Marlow stared at Cindy for a moment before snapping back into position and nodding and saluted Keys before leaving.

Keys rubbed his head for a moment then turned to the guards. "Keep an eye on them."

They nodded and he left the tent.

-0-

Cindy and the others waited for hours, wondering what the unit was going to do to them. Lina just kept struggling with the guard pushing her down, then started to say some swear words at him. Umi had to cover Maku's ears on some occasions. Cindy heard the radio buzz.

"Uh, this is Sigma squadron reporting to lily base. We're starting our approach vector."

Another voice sounded. "Copy that. Make way for entry."

The tent opened and in stepped Marlow. He made a gesture with his head and the nodded and left the tent. He went to Cindy and helped her up. "I'm sorry about all this."

Cindy stared I disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"I'm letting you go. I saw how you were apprehended. Even if your group was hot with activity, that doesn't excuse your treatment." He looked to the side. "Besides, you remind me of my younger sister. She's hiding out at Slateport." He had the poke belts in his hands and gave them back to Cindy and Lina. "Now listen, there's a boat that we use for our midnight patrol, it should be arriving in a little bit. You could use that to escape and probably latch on to help along the trade routes on Johto's waters."

Cindy nodded. "Thank you."

Marlow turned around. "Now you might want to hurry before Keys notices anything."

"Before I notice what, Private Marlow?" Marlow stiffened and turned around to see Jason with several other H.D.C. troops.

He went turned to the red-patch man. "Garber, give the arrest order."

The red -patch man did not move.

"Garber, did I not make myself clear? Give the arrest order."

The red-patch man suddenly reached for a syringe and stabbed it into Jason's neck. He gasped as the red patch man pushed some blood into him and pushed him aside.

"Garber? What are you doing?" He asked with fright and anger in his voice.

"Your time is up, commander." He said in a ruthless voice.

The other troops surrounded Garber and raised their weapons. Jason nervously watched the clock. 11:59

12:00

Jason felt a sharp pain shoot through his body and he screamed out loud as the other H.D.C. troops panicked, not knowing what to do. Jason felt as his spine extended into a tail and his blond hair turned black and began to grow feral. His naked tail grew black fur and his hands painfully cracked until they became paws. Gray fur started to grow on his body and he cried out as his nose and mouth pushed out into a snout. He reached for Garber and his helmet pushed aside, revealing his face. He had several marking and symbols on his face, a red marking on his forehead. Cindy gasped. _Those symbols…like those kids? _Jason uttered something unintelligible then cried out as his legs snapped and he fell forward on his front paws. His ears moved to the side of his head and became pointed and his teeth sharpened and the change was complete.

The newly formed Mightyena stared in shock at this sudden turn of events. The tent walls fell aside and there were H.D.C. troops surrounding the place.

"Freeze! Put your hands up or we'll open fire!' Yelled an officer.

The red-patch man smiled and lifted his arms up. Cindy saw a Pokeball fly out and out came an Espeon. The Semi was just pulling in. The Espeon's eyes glowed blue and the truck suddenly pushed forward. Its tail end began to sail through the air as it was flipped over in a frontward flip, the metal groaning as the truck flipped over. The trail landed and the doors opened up. The trailer continued moving when it slammed into a containment tent.

And all the pokemon began to attack.

-0-

**A/N:…oh, cliffhanger! I'm sorry to leave you hanging, but I felt like doing this. Quit a twist with Garber, yet another Predator 2 inspired name. I wanted to establish that Marlow was on our side, but he wasn't in the story enough for us to know that, so I wrote him that way in this chapter. And if your wondering, the red-patch man extracted blood from…you guessed it. Shadow, John's old Mightyena. And the semi flipping over? I'm sure most people can recognize that reference to a summer movie that I saw this year. (Lord Nalthren, you can't tell! :p). Anyway, please review! JonseyCat, out MEE-YAA! **

**Current Ancient Society timeline: Sakura base ambush/the final battle.**


	21. Decimation Proclamation

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 21: Decimation Proclamation**

**A/N:….**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or the Transformation universe by TurtlesandMonkeys.**

The huge semi truck groaned as it was flipped over and landed hard on its back. It made a screeching noise as it scrapped against the ground. It slammed into one of the containment tents, and the pokemon attacked.

The red-patch man, Garber, sneered and had his Espeon stun the men with a confusion attack and they could do nothing as pokemon began to attack them.

One guy was bitten by a Muk and screamed. His screams were soon garbled up and sounded gloopy as his body started to turn all sludgy. His skin turned purple and his hair was completely swallowed up by his dissolving flesh. He began to lose form as his bones dissolved and soon he was nothing more than a living purple mass of sludge.

Another guy was bitten by an Electode and soon pain shot through his body. His head began to get heaver and larger as his body seemed to shrink into his expanding head. His nose disappeared and his hair completely fell off in clumps. His face turned red and white and the rest of his body was sucked into his head. He suddenly smiled wickedly and began to shine.

"ELECTRODE!"

"DUCK AND COVER PEOPLE!" An officer yelled out. The newly formed Electrode suddenly shined and exploded. The shockwaves rattled the cages of some nearby pokemon and they were soon released. They began to attack the trainers that were hand cuffed. They soon released screams that quickly became that of Pokemon.

Cindy and the others watched as this chaos was beginning to unfold. She gasped and got up right away. Marlow grabbed her suddenly. "The boat is docked several miles from here! If we run now, we can make it! Now go!" He yelled and pushed her aside as he picked up an automatic weapon and began to shoot into the air. The loud sound frightened some pokemon away from the area, but he wasn't shooting at them.

Cindy went over to Lina and the others. "Come on, we have to go!" She said. More screams can be heard in the distance. Cindy turned and saw a female trooper as her hair began to turn blue and spread like vines over her face and body. Umi shielded Maku away from the horrible sight of the woman's body being ensnared by the living vines and she shrunk into the body of a Tangela. She soon scurried off into the woods. Some pokemon caught sight of them and began to snarl.

"RUN!" Cindy cried out and pulled out two Pokeballs.

"Sarah, Quilava! GO!" She released them. She stared hard at them. "Sarah, thunder wave, now! Quilava, fire spin!" Quilava nodded and soon fire sprouted from its back and it released a spiraling stream of fire. Sarah bent forward and released a charged stream of electrons. The stream of fire instantly hit the pokemon behind them. Any that dodged the spin went into the wave and became paralyzed.

Cindy told them to come on and cover her as she tried to keep up with the others. "Hurry Cindy, come on!" She heard Umi.

Cindy rushed to keep up with them. A young man not to far from her gasped and turned around to see a Diglet there. He began to scream as his skin turned brown and his nose turned pink and got bigger. His arms seemed to fuse with the sides of his torso and his feet seemed to plow underground and drag him down. Soon, he was a Diglet and he plowed underground.

Cindy closed her eyes at the horrible sight and still ran. Sarah and Quilava were keeping an eye out for any pokemon heading their way. _So many pokemon! _Cindy thought to herself. She could hear the cries of the H.D.C. troops as they tried to contain the situation, but control was beyond their grasp.

The Espeon that the red-patch man released cried out as it jumped through the air at Cindy with its forepaws extended. "ESPEON!" It cried out. Cindy gasped as she turned around. Sarah suddenly jumped up and tackled the Espeon. The two continue to roll away from sight and carried on their fight where Cindy couldn't see them anymore. _Sarah! _She thought.

"Come on Cindy!" She heard Lina. She turned and saw a Marill jumping at her. She felt something push her and she fell to the ground. She heard a grunt of pain and saw Marlow there, the Marill biting into his side. She gasped.

He was starting to turn blue as he looked at her. "…go…NOW!" He closed his eyes in pain as his nerves were set ablaze. His ears began to turn all big and rounded out and moved to the top of his head and became huge Marill ears. A springy tail with a bright blue ball on its end sprouted from his butt and his nose turned into a black nose like a mouse's.

Cindy watched in pain and horror as Marlow shrunk into the body of Marill and watched as the newly formed Marill/Marlow shook off its human clothes and ran into the wild.

Quilava pushed Cindy's leg. To tell her to go and they started to run again. Every now and then, Cindy would hear more screams erupt, followed by the noises turning into pokemon roars. She saw Lina ahead and met up with the group.

"Which way?" She panted. Lina pointed to the outside of town that connected to the beach. "The boat should be there."

"Any syringes?" She asked. Umi stepped forward. "I've got one right here."

Cindy nodded. "Remember, cure right away if one of us is bitten."

Umi looked worried, but nodded.

"Ok, let's move!" She said and they started to run.

A nearby tent, a troop was fiddling with the radio.

"This is a high priority signal! Lily base at Lilycove under heavy viral pokemon assault! Massive troop and civilian casualties. Send any available units for assistance!" He turned nervously. "Someone, anyone, help us! Help, AAGGHHHH!" A Totodile bit his side and caused him to bleed heavily. Soon, he turned blue and began to shrink. His hair fell out and his nose snapped and his mouth turned into a crocodile like snout.

Umi was running when a Gorebyss jumped ahead of her and attacked a guy in front it, its long tail tossing the syringe out of her hand and it fell away from sight. She gasped. "Oh no! I dropped it!" Umi said.

Lina stared in disbelief. "What?" No sooner did she stop, she felt a bite on her leg. She gasped and turned to see a little Vulpix. She looked to the others with wide eyes.

"Lina!" Cindy cried out.

Lina felt a tingling sensation all over her body. She began to shudder, then she fell to her knees and screamed out loud as pain swept her body. Her orange shorts ripped as six fluffy orange tails sprouted and became curly like a Vulpix's. Brown fur began to spread all over her body, with darker brown fur forming on her hands and feet. She fell on her hands and her fingers started to shrink into her gloves and into her hands until she had paws. She was wincing then screamed again as her ears moved to the sides of her head and became pointed. She rapidly began to shrink into her clothes, her head still peeking out from her oversized T-shirt. Her eyes were closed and streaming tears as her brown hair turned orange and some of it fell off in clumps with only her bangs remaining and they curled into Vulpix bangs. Her nose turned brown and poked out into a snout and the transformation was over.

Lina was a Vulpix.

Cindy ran tearfully to the Vulpix who was once her friend as the Vulpix/Lina struggled to get out of its former clothes. She had just reached it when Vulpix/Lina just scurried out of her clothes and begin to run away. "LINA!" Cindy cried. She anxiously looked around and picked up a Pokeball from Lina's belt. She released it and out came Lily, Lina's Meganium. She pointed to the fleeing Vulpix.

"Lily, use vine whip on that Vulpix and bring it back here, it's Lina!" The Meganium stared at Cindy with a confused look, but then saw Lina's discarded clothing then looked to the fleeing Vulpix. It concentrated then released two vines from its neck, and sent them at the Vulpix/Lina. It snagged around the fox's leg and it cried out in fear. "VUL!"

It was being dragged across the floor and Cindy felt a pang of pain just seeing her friend like this. _I know we don't have a syringe now…but maybe we can contain her and take her with us and cure when we get to Johto! I can't let her go! _Cindy felt guilty about pulling out a Pokeball on her best friend, but it was for the best. The Vulpix/Lina suddenly bit into the vine, the Meganium reeling from shock as it felt the virus enter its system. It let the little fox go and began to shudder violently. Cindy gasped but threw the ball at Lina. It missed. The Vulpix ran off into the woods and into the wild, gone forever.

_No! _Thought Cindy and she fell to her knees and punched the ground. She looked up and saw the Meganium give her a mean stare, then gasped and began to run towards Umi and Maku. The Meganium gave chase. Quilava popped up and delivered a flame attack and the Meganium fell on its side and slid across the ground. It landed next to a girl and bit her before passing out. She began to scream as the virus swept through her, her skin turning green and her dirty blond hair fell out, leaving her bald as antennae formed on her head and flower petals grew at her neck as it grew longer. Soon she was a Meganium, crying over her new form.

Cindy kept running with tears in her eyes. _How much farther…?Oh Lina! Lina…I couldn't save you!_

"I can see the boat!" Umi said. Cindy looked up and saw at the edge of her vision. _We're almost there!_

Umi suddenly tripped. Maku turned around. "Umi!" He cried out. She was getting up as a Skitty was running towards her. Cindy gasped and saw it coming. "Umi! Watch out!" She looked to Quilava. "Quilava! Use a flamethrower on that Skitty, hurry!"

Quilava was taking aim and blasted a stream of fire at the Skitty with a cry. The Skitty had just bit Umi as the flame knocked it away from her. Umi gasped then pushed Maku away from her.

"Cindy…take Maku and get out of here!" She cried out. Maku reached for her. "Sis!" He said, tears forming.

Umi felt a pang of pain and cried out, then looked to Maku again. "Go, now!" She cried out again, then looked at Maku with a soft look. "I love you, Maku…" She screamed again as the pink rounded part of a Skitty's tail pushed itself through her butt and grew the little wiry ends, looking like an oval ball of yarn with three knitting needles sticking out of it. Her ears grew bigger and larger as her blue hair turned pink and fused with her head, the pink fur spreading to her massive ears. Her body began to shrink and her arms and legs shrunk back into her body, becoming Skitty limbs. Her eyes closed forever and she was a Skitty.

"Mya!" She said and she ran into the woods. Cindy picked up the crying Maku and began to run for the docks. Quilava followed.

A Mudkip jumped out of the lake and bit Maku's leg. The force of the attack knocked Cindy back and Maku landed on top of her. His glasses fell off and suddenly he rolled off of Cindy and clutched his stomach as pain swept through his body. Cindy gasped and held Maku's hand. "Maku!' She cried out. _No…not him too!_

Maku turned a blue color and orange gills with three points popped from his cheeks. A fin like tail busted from his shorts and his hair disappeared as a fin sprouted from his head. Cindy was grasping his changing hand when it became slippery and his fingers shrank into Mudkip paws and slipped out of her hand. His head became more oval shaped and his nose shrank back into his face, leaving two little nose holes, and he shrank until he was a full Mudkip.

The Mudkip easily slid out of Cindy's grasp and slid into the lake, swimming away. She reached for him with tearful sobs.

_No! They're gone! They're all gone! _Cindy pounded the ground in defeat as she cried for her fallen friends.

She heard Quilava cry out and she looked up as a Flareon was jumping for her. Quilava immediately jumped up and took the tackle head on. They both bumped into Cindy and she lost her balance by the hill and began to roll down the steep hill…

**A/N…please review…**

**Current Ancient Society timeline: Fall of Sakura base/ final battle.**


	22. Watching her world burn

-1**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 22: Watching her world burn…**

**A/N:…:'(…**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo owns Pokemon; TurtlesandMonkeys owns the Transformation universe and its virus. I own Cindy…**

Cindy was rolling down the hill and landed hard. She cried out as she felt her ankle sprain from the impact of landing. She closed her eyes in pain and slowly opened them and looked around the area. She was farther from the boat now. Her eyes still flowed tears for Lina, Umi, and Maku, all Pokemon now.

She looked behind her and saw Quilava, unconscious. She remembered when Quilava jumped and saved her from the Flareon. She looked around for it but saw no sign. She began to get up, but cried out again when her ankle hurt and fell to her knees. Quilava began to stir.

Cindy looked up. "…Quilava?" She asked with a hint of fear in her voice. Quilava opened its eyes and Cindy died inside when she saw her friend's eyes flash rage at her.

Quilava was infected.

Cindy began to crawl back as Quilava began to slowly walk towards her. She couldn't get far with her sprained ankle. She tearfully looked to Quilava.

_No! She can't be infected! She can't! She can't! She can't! She can't! She can't…_

Cindy continued to repeat this in her head as Quilava took another step towards her. There was no look of affection on its face as it moved towards her.

"Quilava…" she whimpered.

"_What pokemon will you want, Cindy?" Asked Professor Elm. A 12-year old Cindy put her finger to her mouth as she stared at the three Pokeballs. "uh, I don't know, can I see them all?" Elm Sighed. "I guess…"_

"Quilava stop…please…" She whimpered. Quilava still continued forward.

_The shy little Cyndaquil caught her eye. "I want that one." she said to Elm, she walked over to it and picked it up in her arms. "Cynda? Cyndaquil!" It said happily. Cindy smiled. "I definitely want this one." Elm smiled. "Ok, Cyndaquil is officially yours. Take care…"_

"Quilava…don't you remember me…?When we first met? Please Quilava, remember!" Cindy cried. Quilava ignored her and actually snarled at her.

"_Good job Cyndaquil!…" "Cyndaquil, watch out!" "Cyndaquil, use ember!" "Hang in their Cyndaquil!' The little fire shrew began to glow, it grew bigger and it was a Quilava…"Quilava!" It said…_

"Quilava." It snarled as it took another step.

"_Alright Quilava, you evolved!" It smiled at her._

Tears streamed down Cindy's face as she pleaded with her pokemon. "Quilava…please…please…don't….you would never….never…"

"_We're friends, right?" _

"_Quil." It replied happily._

Every memory of Quilava and her friendship with it flooded into Cindy's mind and it summed up a huge feeling in her chest. She cried and opened her mouth and screamed at the approaching fire pokemon. "QUILAVA!"

Quilava suddenly rushed at her and tackled her on her back. Cindy's tear soaked eyes stared into her friend's rage filled ones. _Quilava! Quilava, please…!_

"…Please…Quilava…" She begged in a whisper to her friend.

Quilava narrowed its eyes and bent forward and Cindy winced.

Quilava bit Cindy.

Cindy closed her eyes and began to cry some more, not from the fact that she was infected, but for the loss of her friend. Quilava jumped off her and ran into the woods.

Cindy felt a tingling sensation all over her body, and she knew it was starting. A sudden wave of pain struck her and she screamed. Every part of her felt like it was burning, her whole world was burning. This time, it was really happening.

Cindy felt pain as her legs began to shrink into her body. Her ears turned pointed and moved to the side of her head. Her blond hair began to fall out, leaving her bald. She cried out again as the top part of her face and back began to turn a navy blue color. He nose snapped and she screamed again as her face rounded of into the face a Quilava has, her face becoming narrow and rounder. Her arms began to shrink as her fingers began to twist and merge into paws, her black fingerless gloves falling off in the process. Her legs shrank to where her feet met, then her feet began to change as her toes began to twist and merge, and trenching out to become the hind legs of a Quilava. Her body began to slim ad get a little longer and she was in the body of a Quilava. Her neck thickened a bit and the back of her head connected with it. The last change was fire sprouting from her butt and burning her shorts into cinders, while sparks started on her bald head and another flame sprouted from her head and began to burn her shirt and jacket with its embers. Her new fire proof fur protected her from any burn damage. The ashes fell off and the change was complete.

Cindy was a Quilava.

The Quilava stood in the moonlight, staring at it.

Then it began to walk a away…

**A/N:….re-review…:'(….**

**Current Ancient Society time line**: **Fall of Sakura base.**


	23. A New Dawn

**Transformation: Quarantine**

**Chapter 23:A new dawn**

**A/N…well, we're finally here…enjoy… (Sad Mee-yaa in the distance)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Nintendo does. I am only borrowing the Transformation universe with permission from TurtlesandMonkeys.**

" _It's official...Cyndaquil is yours…"_

"_Hi Cindy, I got my pokemon. It's a Chikorita!"_

"_Oh, Lina don't worry…I'll start soon…"_

"_All right Cyndaquil! You evolved…"_

"_My name is John…"_

"…_. I'm not heartless you know…"_

"_The night is darkest just before the dawn…"_

"…_but the dawn is coming…"_

"_Quilava…"_

A Quilava opened its eyes as the first signs of dawn and stretched. It looked down sorrowfully and began to walk. It's been quiet some time since that night in Lilycove, and ever since then, the Quilava that was once Cynthia "Cindy" Richards was living in solitude, sad, alone. She had lost all her friends that night, including the one she bonded with strongly the most. _Quilava…_

She looked at the rising sun and sighed a Quilava sigh and began to walk on her four paws. She came across a stream and looked at her reflection. It still took awhile for her to get used to seeing a Quilava staring back at her, and it reminded her of her former friend. The water rippled as a tear fell on the image. When the water cleared it was evident that she shed that tear. Occasionally, she would see a pokemon that wasn't really one, but she just let them go by and live their lives. Today she was walking alone when she heard a noise. She stopped and hid in the bushes. Ever since the incident with the H.D.C, Cindy has been very cautious with any humans that strolled by incase they wanted to capture her. The noise stopped and she continued her way.

On some days she tried searching for the pokemon that her friends became. Being a pokemon herself, maybe she could talk them back to their senses. But she was unable to find any of them. Today, she felt exceptionally low as she began to think about her friends, old wounds reopening again. _Lina…Umi…Maku…Quilava…Sarah…John…_

She heard another noise but was swallowed up in her sorrows to take any notice.

She heard some more noise and a Vulpix ran by her and looked at her curiously.

Several other Vulpix showed up with the one that was staring at her. The Vulpix were really young, but they still reminded Cindy of that night in Lilycove. _Lina…_

One of the cubs sniffed her, then it tapped her head with its nose. Cindy looked up, with tears running down her eyes. "…I'm sorry little ones….l would like to be left alone for the moment…"

.

"Well, I'd never thought I would meet you again in this state…" Cindy heard a familiar voice. She turned around and saw something she never expected to see. A shiny black Ninetales. _Can it be?_

The Ninetales moved its head and the little cubs went into the bushes behind it, then it turned and looked at her. "…Cindy, isn't it?" It asked.

Cindy tearfully nodded. She saw a regular Ninetales with the Vulpix cubs, but what confirmed her suspicions was the Shiny red Ninetales that followed. "Akira?" She asked of the black Ninetales.

"Yeah. It's me. I knew that your voice sounded familiar, but I didn't expect to find you like this…" He paused. "Oh, I'm sorry." Cindy looked down. "So it got you too, huh?" She asked. Akira only shrugged, then began to walk toward her. "I know it seems bad at first, but it grows on you."

He sat next to Cindy, his black tails flowing majestically. "It took me awhile, but I'm starting to accept my new life. It doesn't have to be all bad."

Cindy looked at him. "But what about your old life? Do you just cast it aside and let it die?"

Akira sighed. "That's the horrible thing this virus does to people. But I haven't forgotten about my old life. In fact, it keeps me going in this one. Do you know what I'm trying to get at?"

Cindy began to think about it. "'It's always darkest before the dawn, but the dawn is coming…'"

Akira nodded. "Exactly."

She began to slump. "But how can I face the new dawn alone?" Akira began to get up on his paws. "That's for you to find out and you alone."

Cindy sighed. "Yeah ." She looked up. "Hey, is that other Ninetales…?"

Akira closed his eyes, as if trying a Ninetales version of his annoyance gesture mentally.

"Yes, that is Evaglin."

Cindy looked at him. "Then those cubs are…?"

Akira suddenly face planted, a funny thing to see a Ninetales do. He got up and would have blushed if he could. "We're just adjusting…to our new life. You could learn too." And with that, he turned and began to walk into the woods, the regular Ninetales, Evaglin, followed him persistently along with the Vulpix cubs. Kitsune gave Cindy a mystic stare before leaving the Quilava to ponder on Akira's words.

-0-

Cindy was wandering about, thinking about her encounter with Akira. She heard some noises and hid in the bushes again. It was a loud squawking noise. Cindy distinctly heard two voices, a boy's and a girl's. They cried "Duo!" at occasional intervals, and soon a Doduo popped into view. It spotted the water and one of the heads began to drink from the stream while the other kept a look out for any predators.

"Duo! Duo!" Said the head with the boy's voice, scanning the terrain. The voice sounded strangely…familiar to Cindy. She crept a little close and sniffed the air. She smelled the faint scent of Sakura petals...

_Sakura…Sakura base…_

The Doduo head went down and the one drinking began to look around while the other head began to drink. "Dou! Do, duo!" This head had a girl's voice. This told Cindy that this Doduo wasn't natural. Even in Poke speak, the Doduo spoke its name. _But that's what probably makes it hard for enemies to read them…with two brains, all they would have to do is send a message to each other…_

The Doduo stopped drinking and both heads turned toward the spot Cindy was hiding in. It took several strides with its skinny legs and soon it was right on top of her position. Cindy crouched lower, but one of the heads poked close to her. "Duo!' it was the boy's voice. Now that it was close, the voice registered completely in Cindy's memory.

"…John?" She asked. The head with the girls voice suddenly made loud squawking noises as it looked behind them. "Dou! Doduo!"

A Luxray jumped out of the bushes and the Doduo immediately took off when it sprang. The Luxray sniffed the air and began to follow. The Doduo was running, but then one of the heads began to shudder and the Doduo suddenly fell on its side. It began kicking about and squawking as the Doduo turned on its side, it's left leg kicking violently in the air. The second head seemed to be struggling with itself while the other head, the one with the girl's voice, just squawked loudly in confusion.

"…DUO…Ci-….Ci…" The head with the boy's voice looked to Cindy's hiding spot, struggling to say something, looking at her as if she were an anchor point for that word.

After much struggling and anguish, the head spoke.

"…CINDY…!" John cried.

Cindy stood up on her hind legs. "John!" She cried back.

The Doduo began to shudder again and both heads began to squawk loudly. The Luxray finally got up to the thrashing two-headed bird, but it got up suddenly and kicked the Luxray with one of its massive legs.

"Duo! Do Doduo!" The bird cried out before running again, both heads bobbing in unison. The Luxray began to follow. "Wait!" it called. It was a female, Cindy guessed from the voice. The Doduo was too fast and soon it got away from the Luxray. The Luxray slumped forward and began to cry.

_Can it be?_

Cindy walked up to the Luxray that was crying and she sniffed it.

"Sarah?"

The Luxray noticed her and got up defensively. "Who are you? How do you know who I am?" She growled, then she sniffed the air, had a confused look on her face, and began to sniff Cindy some more.

"Strange, you smell…just like her." She looked to the side as if debating the facts.

Cindy walked up to her. "It's me Cindy. Don't you remember, Sarah?"

Sarah had a look of disbelief. "No way! I must be losing it, chasing after familiar scents that aren't there, searching for my masters, and finding pokemon that smell like them., and, and!' She growled and shook her head. "None of this makes any sense at all!"

Cindy began nuzzling her. "It's ok. Everything is going to be all right. I still thank you for saving me from that Espeon."

Sarah looked up in disbelief. "…how…how do you know about that?"

Cindy smiled. "Because you did, you did save me, that night in Lilycove."

Sarah got up, then looked to the side, as if getting the facts straight. Cindy still nuzzled her. "I helped you when John was unable to…I stayed by your side, just like he did, when you were recovering…you loved him…" _Just like I did…_

Sarah looked to her, then at the ground, as if reliving all that Cindy told her, then finally looked at Cindy in the eye.

"Then…you really are her…" She looked in the direction the Doduo took off.

"Then that means that the Doduo was…" She looked down.

Cindy rubbed her head against Sarah. "Cheer up. I'm here for you. You don't know how happy I am to see that you're alright." Sarah looked to Cindy and released a halfhearted smile. " So what happens now?"

Cindy looked to the sky. "I don't know, but we shouldn't let life go on without us."

She got up. "Come on Sarah, our new dawn awaits."

**-0-**

A brown haired girl was behind a podium. "…we can save our world and stop this virus, but only if we band together instead of shutting our selves away from each other and shutting away pokemon entirely. That's why we should find and cure any pokemon with our DNA and save everyone and finally put an end to this." She sat down and a senior officer stepped forward in front of the press. "Thank you, Melissa. Taking a stance from what miss Harper just said, let me read a declaration from the government of Hoenn:

Due to observations and failure to contain the virus as they were tasked to, and after evidence of excessive force and possible infiltration by questionable parties, the Viral Pokemon Containment Unit is here by disbanded, effective immediately. All pokemon that were detained will be taken to clinics in Rustboro and Petalburg where they will be observed and cured if necessary. The Hoenn defense corps will be dissolved and reorganize into a more effective unit with aid from the Sinnoh national guard, as well as Kanto's national guard, and they will assist Hoenn's national guard in providing relief to cities devastated by this virus. The new organization will work with cooperation with the other organizations and help relieve and not add too, the challenges we face with this virus upon us. Thank you." The people began to cheer, but the brown haired girl, Melissa, looked down in sadness, looking at her chest as if she was reliving some horrible moment, but she soon put a determined look on her face.

_We will stop this virus…_

-0-

Cindy and Sarah both walked down a trail as the mid day sun shone its brightest. Cindy looked to Sarah and Sarah nodded. Cindy looked to the sky. _Lina, Umi, Maku, John, Quilava… I know it seems to be the darkest hour…_

"Cindy, are you coming?" Sarah asked.

Cindy snapped back into reality. "Huh? Yeah, I'm coming."

She looked up again. _But the dawn is coming, and I'll find you all again…_

She smiled and began to walk with Sarah down the path to a new life, a new begining.

A new dawn.

-0-

**Transformation: Quarantine, completed.**

**End.**

**Author's **_**letter**_**: And that's the end of that! I am so proud for all you readers for sticking with me this long, and I thank you all. This is the first full-length story that I've completed, and I'm glad you all enjoyed it. The last few chapters have their dark moments, but like its been said, the night is darkest just before the dawn, and the dawn is coming. The little exchange between Akira and Cindy was something that Lord Nalthren helped me out with, as the chapter will be appearing in his sequel to Chronicle of the beholder. The thing with Cindy and John as a Doduo was something I thought would be interesting, and originally, this chapter was written minus the cubs and John's brief moment of recognition, but after lord Nalthren told me about the cubs and earlier one morning I woke up and that scene with one Doduo head struggling to shout Cindy's name really appealed to me, and really shows the strength of John's character. (I hope you like that Swack; he wasn't cured and he didn't regain his mind fully, but the door has been opened briefly and there's a chance John might regain his mind again…someday…or even better, one day he and Mary are finally cured. (Ps to TaM: Don't do it just because I said it here, only if its part of your original plan, and if it isn't, DON'T take this into account! I'm sorry, but I don't want to feel like I'm butting into your stories!) **

**Oh, I might come back and revisit this story for a sequel, but for right now I have other commitments, i.e. Hybrids: GT, Ancient society: ascension, School…XO, the list just goes on! But I will write a sequel to this, that is a promise as much as John's promise to Cindy that he will see her again. O-. **

**Well, I hope that the readers will understand my references to Tam's stories in this closing chapter and that you all at least walk away with something from reading this. I know I did writing this. **

**Once again, Thank you to TurtlesandMonkeys for giving me the opportunity to write this, to Lord Nalthren, Swack16, Felix the Eevee trainer, and Bored out of my head for their constant support, And to all of you for reading this story and, hopefully, enjoying it. Please review! JonseyCat, signing off! MEE-YAA! **


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